Axu (now at Alpha v0.7.3)

[getter77]

http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Axu
https://cynapse077.itch.io/axu-rl   Win/Mac/Linux
https://sites.google.com/site/axudev/roadmap

Axu is a graphical open-world roguelike, set on a distant prison colony planet. Inspired by Caves of Qud, Dwarf Fortress, ADOM, and Sil.

Explore the procedurally-generated world, take on Bandits, or explore the depths of the planet. Each time you create a new game, the world will be created anew. Every playhrough will be different and challenging. Axu is in very early development, and is growing every day. Feedback is greatly appreciated!

Mod support in the works!

     A large, procedurally generated planet.
    Over 150 items.
    Mutations.
    Addition/Removal of body parts.
    Hidden caves under the surface of the planet.
    Use anything as a weapon.
    Procedural poetry.

v0.3.2 ARRP

Additions:

    New Quests.
        Quest Step Type: Fetch - Bring back X number of Y item to the quest giver.
        Quest Step Type: Explore - Visit a particular location.
        Quest Step Type: Return - Return to the quest giver.
        Quest Step Type : Use - Interact with a specific object.
    New ability: Juke. Leap over your opponent, swapping positions with, and stunning them.
    Added a backpack item to help with storage capacity.
    Item mods that increase storage capacity.
    NPCs will now mention landmarks during conversation, as well as a general heading on how to get there.
    Sounds and particle effects for swimming.
    Multiple lines added to the poetry generation system.
    Poems now have randomized pronouns and possessive determiners to add variety.
    Added a mutation-curing brew.
    Many new abilities to learn from Tomes.
    Computer Terminals that can be interacted with. Further functionality will come later.

    Balance:

    Gain faction reputation on completing quests.
    You can no longer attack pets or other followers. This was causing their AI to freak out.
    Lowered the Endurance requirements needed to shrug off status effects like Poison, Confusion and Stun.
    Enemies once again strafe around each other to get to the player.
    Abilities have cooldowns to prevent spamming.
    Relaxed stamina costs for abilities.
    Traps don't spawn in the power plant.

    Art:

    New/revised art for some NPCs.

    World:

    Merchants spawn more frequently in villages.
    Villages have names.

    UI:

    NPCs display an icon above their head if they have a quest that can be finished.
    Dialogue option for completing certain quests.
    You get a warning notification if you try to pick something up with a full inventory.
    Inventory/Loot panels now scale with the number of items in a container/inventory.
    Added confirmation for attacking non-hostile NPCs.

    Fixes:

    Quests save and load properly in their proper states.
    Damaging effects no longer hit the player if you move into them before their animation finishes.
    Music volume actually works now.
    The weather no longer permanently changes by you going under ground.
    Fixed "Charge" and "Furious Roar" abilities.
    Fixed a color tag issue with slimes splitting.
    Locations seen multiple sessions in the past are now correctly saved.
    No longer can you walk through mountains.

    Misc:

    Player no longer slides across the map when switching screens.
    World tiles/screens will unload after being inactive for 10,000 turns. I've done this for many reasons:
        Difficulty scale becomes much easier. You won't have trash mobs lingering in old and forgotten areas. NPCs and Loot will disappear. This does NOT happen in towns, claimed zones, or vaults. Those will always remain the same.
        Exploration is more varied, as you will never completely map out the environment.
        Smaller save files for longer playthroughs.
        Memory becomes less of an issue when less screens are being saved/loaded/kept track of.

Yet another super promising new project---2016 redeeming itself bit by bit on the Roguelike front even if the rest of the world teeters on the brink!   

[getter77]

v0.3.2b

Hey everyone,

    I just wanted to first of all say thank you to each and every one of you. 0.3.2 was my biggest (in terms of players and press) release yet due to ARRP 2016. I had a huge amount of feedback on different aspects of the game, and I did my best to remedy concerns people had. So today is a smaller release, like a reply to the feedback. First and foremost was the inclusion of a PROPER keybinding menu. You can now unbind/rebind all keys, even already mapped ones. People with laptops were having issues, due to not being able to unbind the movement keys. I've also gone ahead and redesigned a few small parts of the UI, added quest tracking, balanced certain areas of the game, and much more! See below for the full changelog:


CHANGELOG:

 - Changed font to be even more clear and legible. More spacing between each letter.
 - Adjusted stat values of some enemies.
 - Torches now stack.
 - Your hunger will display if Hungry or beyond while on the world map.
 - Added expandable tabs for key rebinding.
 - Added a button to clear all keys and reset them to defaults.
 - You can now fully rebind any key. If it's being used by another binding, you can overwrite it to None, and set the key     still.
 - Increased the rate of gaining weapon XP slightly.
 - Fixed ability cooldowns not getting registered at start.
 - Buffed satiation of some food items.
 - Added more food items at lower rarities.
 - Combat damage is much more based on weapon proficiency.
 - Items no longer get ALL the available stat mods randomly.
 - Random Name button on the Character Creation screen now has a hover mode.
 - Revisited item damages. Tiers now increase in damage much more slowly.
 - New corpse items for certain NPCs.
 - Started on basic sprites for different equipped items.
 - The ability "Called Shot" now has more diverse percentages based on each targeted body part's size.
 - Increased value of loot drops from chests.
 - Edited some auto-tiled walls for clarity.
 - Added a new two-tile zone on the world map, with its own faction, The Ensis. They will play a pivotal     role in the     story.
 - Random rock tiles will no longer show up in villages or other important areas.
 - Raised the chance to get artifacts.
 - A chest no longer spawns at the top left corner of every village.
 - Fixed an issue with false information being shown on items.
 - If  a quest has a specific destination, you can track a quest to have an arrow point towards the quest location.
 - Enlarged the Body Part selection screen for equipping items. It now shows the body part's equipped item.
 - More accurate Day/Night descriptor.
 - Fixed a colour tag issue with empty inventory screen.
 - Some professions start with the "Called Shot" ability.

[getter77]

v0.3.2c

Hey everyone,

    Today's update is another followup to the ARRP release. I've had increasing levels of feedback over the past couple of weeks, which is amazing! This also means I've had many more bug reports than I'm used to. My focus recently has been making sure everyone can a) play the game, and b) play comfortably. Unfortunately, this means content will be pushed back until these two criteria are met. I like to think I'm a step closer with 0.3.2c. Keybinding issues people have been having are remedied, small additions based on suggestions have been placed in the game, and a couple systems were reworked to allow expansion later on.

By the way, Rogueliker did a Let's Play of Axu! The very first non-streamed gameplay on youtube. Here's the link to see that! Over 45 minutes of 0.4.3b gameplay. Be sure to check out some of his other videos as well. He's an excellent guy, and a great let's player!


 - Added more items to the character's sprite list.
 - Offhand items now show up on the character's sprite.
 - Raised the chance of finding random chests out in the world.
 - Fixed an issue with cells registering entities after Blink and Teleport.
 - Picking "The Fool" no longer crashes the game.
 - Added a panel for viewing your body parts statuses.
 - You can replace limbs with from severed ones from enemies.
 - Some items with a number of turns for a lifetime (like Torches or food) disappear once they reach 0.
 - Some food items and body parts rot in your inventory.
 - Turns until food rots is shown in the inventory screen.
 - "The Experiment" criminal now starts with randomized extremities.
 - Weapons equipped to other body parts now show their armor value instead of damage.
 - You can no longer infinitely steal gold from NPCs.
 - Aquatic enemy types.
 - Quick menu shows heading to tracked quest destination.
 - Added armor for tails and wings.
 - Mutations are now caused by being exposed to radiation frequently. This can be cured with specific items.
 - Some enemy attacks can increase your radiation.
 - Added a UI element to vaguely show the player's current radiation.
 - Added a visual animation for confusion status effect.
 - Buffed Adept Bandits, and removed the Slimemancer tag.
 - Items now lose more than 1 turn worth of charges/freshness while traveling on the world map.
 - Entities that are slowed enough will become "Frozen"
 - Fixed a couple UI offset errors.
 - Fixed an issue with rebinding various keys with a space in the name.
 - Fixed a scene management bug causing the character creation screen to show up blank. Windows had this fix in the last patch. Mac and Linux now have this fix.
 - Changed in-game music to stop copyright claims.
 - Fixed some typos.
 - You can no longer remove the "Stump" item from severed limbs.
 - Increased the size of the damage text font. It re-scaled after deleting a seemingly unused font.

Thanks for reading, my friends!

[getter77]

v0.4.0! 

Greetings, everyone! It's been almost a month since 0.3.2c, and lots has changed since then. Axu has been on itch.io for one year as of today! To celebrate, I've put together the largest release to date! Over 100 items on the changelog below. I honestly can't even start on a tl;dr version. Have a look, play the new version, and enjoy yourselves

Additions:
    More cohesive quest story content.
    New Item: "Fusion Cells". Can be used to recharge certain pieces of technology.
    Support for quest flags stored in the journal to gate a few higher-level areas until certain quests are completed.
    Sound effects for rain.
    Objects that can be in front of characters, like tall grass.
    A modifier that allows you to shock nearby creatures upon attacking. Some items also inherited this ability too.
    New mutations.
    Doctors can amputate limbs.
    The Surgeon's Kit can also replace limbs.
    Abilities now have a level and XP associated with them. Higher levels increases effectiveness of the ability.
    Added another step to the "main" questline.
    New random quests.
    New enemy types for the new vault.
    Started work on static NPCs that will spawn at the start of the game in a set position.
    Female villagers! 50% chance to spawn when spawning a villager. Same stats, same items, etc.

    Balance:
    Merchants' inventories get shuffled every so often.
    Reduced the amount of money normal NPCs carry.
    Aquatic enemies now act a little more realistically when the player is not in the water. They will wander around the edge of the pool.
    More enemies are given the teleport ability.
    Throwing items scale with Dexterity.
    Tall grass increases stealth of those inside the same tile.
    Barrels can now have food items in them.
    Reduced the effectiveness of shields slightly.
    The "Fool" class now starts with the "Irritating" trait.
    You cannot starve yourself by fast-travelling. If your hunger gets too low (like, ridiculously low), you will be kicked to the local map and cannot open the world map.
    Quests give substantially more XP.
    Body parts have stats. When removed, the bonuses go with them. When others are attached, your stats raise with them.
    Replacement limbs can be re-severed to allow multiple amputations.
    Armor-ignoring attacks now properly always hit.
    Some heat/cold damage can ignore resistances.
    Better scaling on some abilities, related directly to relevant stats.
    Adjusted enemy AI skill usage.
    Enemies teleporting will now select a tile within your FOV most of the time, to remove needless hunting.
    Enemies will only teleport if their health is at half or less.
    Houses now can spawn a cellar beneath them.
    Bleeding doesn't clot on low health, but it cannot kill you by itself.
    NPCs have Heat and Cold Resistances as well now.
    Enemies can be wounded as well.
    Breaking altars can have unseen consequences.
    Adjusted stat modifiers on some items.
    Slightly raised the price of mercenaries.

    World:
    Ensis doors are locked until a certain quest is completed.
    Terminals cannot be used until you obtain the quest to use them.
    Houses now can have doors on their East and West sides, depending on which side is closest to the center of the map.
    Added more variance in time between weather changes.
    Each village screen now has one merchant, and a chance of having a doctor.
    A Doctor NPC can now spawn in a "Hospital" building.
    A Merchant NPC can now spawn in a "Shop" building.
    Shops and Hospitals have different sign graphics for conveyance to the player.
    Added a new area, and a vault within it.
    Flooded Caves have slightly less water.
    Villages can now have snowy or forest backgrounds.
    Cultist Hideout zone.
    Improved cave generation by creating more circular rooms in closer proximity.
    Ice tiles appear up North.
    Objects in houses will no longer spawn on each other. (No more beds on tables!)

    UI:
    Added a VI-Keys preset to the controls menu.
    Better screen re-sizing. Still only supports 16x9 by default.
    You can change the camera's size by using the mouse's scroll wheel or PageUp/PageDown.
    L'ooking at items or creatures shows their display beside their sprite for better visibility and conveyance of information. Before, this window was to the right side of the screen, and many did not see it.
    Stats screen now shows each limb's bonus to stats.
    Clearer stat increment descriptions on replacement limbs.
    The "Replace Limb" option for doctors can select any amputate-able limbs, instead of previously severed ones, skipping a step if you just want an upgrade.
    New quests are automatically tracked.
    More lines of chat for both Ensis and Villagers.

    Art:
    Added new object sprites for:
        Hospital sign
        Shop sign
        Book/Poem items.
    New tiles for a secret vault type.
    New enemy sprites.
    Ice tile for frozen liquids.
    An open barrel tile for searched barrels.
    Electricity arcing effects for shocking attacks.

    Fixes:
    Severed body parts now more accurately drop and replace equipment upon severing a limb.
    You can no longer equip gear to severed body parts. Was working not as intended.
    In Character Creation, proficiency level doesn't show up as one less than the actual value anymore.
    Items withering away now display the correct name for the item, rather than "None".
    While zoomed-in, the camera snaps to the player's position upon entering a new screen. No more awkward panning.
    Put in a better floor tile check for underground areas. Enemies and objects should hypothetically no longer spawn in walls.
    Fixed the render order of some objects.
    No longer will you get spammed with notifications alerting you when attacking a non-hostile creature twice in a row (if they didn't notice you)
    Enemies with the "Ember Wall" ability no longer cause damage to themselves when using it.
    Fixed an error with Terminal quests completing after using just 1, instead of the actual desired amount.
    Blocked shots no longer sever limbs.
    Blocked shots no longer cause Slimes to split.
    Trees no longer can spawn in front of doors in Villages.
    Healing from Doctors now doesn't give you the message "You are no longer confused" even when you weren't.
    Attacks that ignore armor no longer incorrectly damage you.
    Put in a check to see if the starting tile in vaults is disconnected to the rest of the floor. This should hypothetically fix this error with cave generation.
    Disarmed enemies no longer have the item "[None]" equipped in their main hand.
    Fixed some pronoun oddities in procedural poems.
    Enemies do not inherit the player's hunger stat.
    Enemies will no longer die of hunger.
    Explosions don't lag as much if they are not digging through a wall.
    The ability "Charge" now updates your FOV properly on the final move.
    The player's sprite now flips correctly when "w"alking.
    Status effects from enemy weapons will not affect you if the damage of their attack is 0.
    NPCs with a non-hostile faction, but who were attacked should now properly hit the player instead of dancing around them.
    Enemies no longer can use skills through walls, or while not in sight of the player.
    Dropping items under the main map layer no longer defaults them to elevation 0.
    Fixed scrolling in the crafting menu.
    Water will no longer override door tiles in underground areas.

    Misc:
    Professions can start with any trait, no longer constrained to the "Starting_Trait" flag.
    The game remembers the last target you attacked, and will auto-target them when firing ranged weapons.
    Renamed the "Oddity" class to "Freak".
    Enabled console commands in builds by selecting it in the Options menu, then pressing the "End" key.
    NPCs will now face you while talking to them.
    Searching for items is now much faster. It was looking through the entire list of objects on the screen instead of in the current cell.
    Removed the "Claim Zone" key and mechanic. You can now build in any zone that allows it without needing to claim it first. This was confusing and silly. An area where you've built something now gets claimed by default so the system doesn't delete the area from memory.
    Added keybinds for zooming in and out (Default to pgup and pgdown)
    Mutations with replaced equipped items now have a unique item to them. (Shell, Fin, etc)
    Wounds are now local to the body part hit.

[getter77]

v0.4.1

Hey everyone, this is a smaller release. I built what I had completed for a planned larger release, but there was a request for a 32-bit version of Axu. Some minor tweaks, quest additions, and bug fixes. Enjoy!

-Matt (Cynapse)


CHANGELOG:

    Fixed a soft lock when Slimemancers summon Slimes.
    Loot windows automatically close if the container/pile is empty.
    Body parts have their own armor values.
    New vault type.
    New village type for a certain Northern faction.
    A new branch of quests has started, and the current story quests have been expanded.
    Fixed a long-standing issue with loading some vault areas.
    Doors no longer disappear underground after re-entering the area.
    Door sounds no longer play when an NPC tries to open a door, but can't.
    Static NPCs can be set to a specific elevation.
    Increased passive health regeneration speed.
    Fixed a bug where doors weren't closing.
    Cleaned up some UI offsets with Alerts and the New Game message at the beginning.
    In Mouse Mode, you can right click to fire your ranged weapon.

[getter77]

v0.4.2

Hey everyone,

    0.4.2 has been a long time coming. As much as I would love to patch something every day, and release it to all of you, sometimes I need to take a step back and break apart some features to make the game better. This month has been a busy one on the development front. As you can see by the changelog below, there have been a huge number of balance tweaks, fixes, and UI/Keybinding reworks. As the developer, I find the game fairly easy, though I was hearing some complaints about the first dungeon being very unforgiving. First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who gives their two cents. Your opinions and feedback are absolutely INVALUABLE to me. I cannot test/balance everything by myself while also simultaneously developing Axu. I've toned down the first dungeon area, but left much of the rest of the game untouched. By the time you exit your first underground area, the money, equipment, and skill training should be more than sufficient to take on the Power Plant next. That being said, everything is still up in the air. The Power Plant needs a full rework, getting themed enemies, traps, and other cool stuff. Later dungeons will be reworked as I have time. I'm doing my best to both add new content + story while also focus on balance of older areas.

    A new biome has been added to the Southern section of the map: The Red Desert. So far, it's mostly placeholder local maps with a new enemy type. You may encounter a Sandstorm or two, but this weather effect does nothing except look okay for the moment.

    Check out the rest of the changelog for the full story of what I've been working on for the past month!

Cheers,
Matt (Cynapse)

    Additions
    Additional Quest branch.
    New abilities and tomes.
    Story-relevant chat added to three factions.
    New effects for some abilities.
    Thrown items now have a lerped object that shows the path the thrown item took.
    New target sprite for 3x3 areas.
    Added teleporters that can have user-set destination coordinates.
    New status effect: Blind. Causes your vision radius to become zero for a random number of turns.
    Support for basic muli-tile objects.
    New Sounds:
        Reloading Weapons
        Breaking certain objects.
        Explosions.
        Blunt Attack.
        Teleporting.
    Smoke animation for explosions.
    New item modifiers.
    New biome: Red Desert.
    Enemies for the Red Desert.
    New item stack art for various armor and weapon types.
    Bloodstains can now cling to walls.

     Balance
    Stuns now have a strength behind them. creatures (and the player) can be stunned for multiple turns.
    Pushing enemies with Charge, Juke, or Furious Roar now stuns them, and potentially damages them if they hit other enemies.
    Bleeding is much slower, but clots less easily.
    Damage abilities scale better with their level.
    Story progress flags are now correctly loaded from the save file.
    You can no longer scum Akk-Lune for multiple sets of starting items.
    Adjusted weapon swing speed values.
    Reduced the number of cave floors in the first dungeon.
    Did some serious balance tweaks to provide an easier early game. Reduced enemy health closer to the surface, and reduced strength to compensate for lack of gear.
    Removed Called Shot from starting professions, as it has received upgrades.
    Called Shot deals damage with a +2 Strength bonus, at the cost of some accuracy.
    Called Shot's accuracy scales with the player's Dexterity.
    Removed passive NPCs from underground vaults. They served no purpose except to confuse the player.
    Ranged weapons now require you to reload them after they are empty. You do NOT need to carry around ammo for each weapon. This only serves to balance ranged weapons.
    Capped proficiency skills to a max of 7.
    Reading a tome which contains an ability you already possess increases the level of that ability by one.
    Removed the ability cap, as it isn't needed at this stage of development.
    Overhauled the NPC speed system to be much more in line with the player's value.
    Adjusted enemy natural weapon speeds.
    HP received upon increasing your character's level is now boosted by Endurance.
    Explosives are less rare.
    Explosives no longer leave residual flames behind. This will be saved for Incendiary Grenades later on.
    Explosives cannot destroy Ensistic walls.
    Messages coming from NPCs will only be written to the log if the player witnesses the action.
    Torches with different turns left no longer stack.
    Summoned enemies no longer drop loot.
    Slightly reduced encounter chances when fast traveling.
    Heat damage from the volcano is now only checked once every three turns, instead of every turn.
    The quest leading to the volcano gives you some heat-resistant gear before sending you in.
    Doubled item buy costs. Even epic items were way too cheap.

     NPCs
    New enemies for late-game vaults and new biomes.
    Almost doubled the amount of skills NPCs can use.
    Cursed statues, living stone that can only move while not being observed, have been added in a late-game vault.
    Faction reputation is static for now.
    Flying creatures no longer take damage from floor traps.
    Renamed the "Cult of the Old" to "Kin of the Old".
    Renamed "Cultists" to "Kindred".
    Merchants carry better goods more consistently.
    Restricted the ability to open doors to certain NPCs.
    Unique art for all static NPCs.

     World
    Increased amount of non-water tiles in world generation.
    More bias towards long and thin world maps.
    Changed the way noise values are generated for the world map.
    New biome: Desert. Shows up towards the southern edge of the map, opposite of the northern tundra.
    Better heat-related tile placement for the world.
    Clear weather lasts longer than other weather types.
    Added a Sandstorm to deserts. Short duration.

     UI/Keys
    Swapped the "Go Up" and "Go Down" default keys, so they make a little more sense. (-/+)
    The "Continue" button in the initial dialogue can now be closed with the mouse.
    '?' and 'F1' keys now bring you directly to the options menu.
    Added health/stamina bars below player's sprite. Also added stamina bar below NPCs.
    Tap the "Pickup" button to pick up items from inventories on the floor, as well as the default keys.
    The minimap showing the world does not display while under ground.
    Put "Zoom to Player" key back in. Default to F9 was un-intuitive.
    Zoom defaults to false, but can be toggled on with the defined key.
    Passive NPCs now have a blue dot to their top right side to easily show they are not hostile.
    Added an alternative info panel to the right hand side that displays weapon/offhand info. Also displays ranged weapon ammo or remaining charges on certain items. NOTE: you can switch menus by pressing '[' or ']'
    A pleasant fade from black when loading or starting a new game.
    Removed pressing NE/NW to swap menus until I get an actual GUI set up for it.
    Mouse can now change local screens by clicking the arrows beside while at the edge of a screen.
    Added arrows to the outside of the screen to show what direction you will move in.
    The camera moves out to make room for the arrows in mouse mode.
    New sliders for the options menu.
    Animation speed variable is now control-able via the options menu.

     Fixes
    NPCs should have the "stun" effect show up now.
    Skill cooldowns now work properly.
    Blood splatters should no longer show up on stairs up or down.
    Weather messages no longer show up while you are under ground.
    Fixed consistencies with "Chest" vs. "Torso".
    Status effect animations now properly display when re-loading a game.
    Fixed an issue with thrown item effects staying on the screen.
    Fixed stairs going nowhere appearing in underground areas.
    Fences are now a tile instead of an object.
    Fixed The Ensis Interior area causing an out of range exception and crashing.
    Random wall tiles no longer cut through rivers or small ponds.
    The camera moves out to make room for the arrows in mouse mode.
    Objects should no longer be placed on Doors or Stairs.
    NPCs should no longer be placed on Doors or Stairs.
    Tentatively fixed a crash upon entering some cellars.
    You no longer wait for each object on a tile while interacting with that tile.
    Stacking items no longer have their charges decrease when another one of the same kind is equipped/used.
    Create a new instance of an item to equip it, to avoid copy issues.
    You can select the last 2 items in the equipment screen with the arrow keys again.
    Some quests were not completing correctly, fixed that.
    Hopefully remedied double door spawns until map reloads..
    Loot objects should not have the '+' icon flash when another inventory is placed/edited.

     Misc
    Moved abilities to a JSON list.
    Included failsafes for attempting to go down stairs where there is no data for whatever reason. An error message will pop up prompting the player to tell me about it.
    New console commands to make testing quests and weather easier.

[javelinrl]

Axu is the most promising freeware roguelike I'm keeping my eyes on. The second closest being Ultima Regum, even if it is more ambitious in scope.

I first came across the game on an "exploration roguelikes" post on reddit. It is still in very early stages and has some bugs and balance issues - but the foundation of the game is so solid, already this early on and has such a great atmosphere that I am fully expecting it to grow into an absolute great title. Matt is also a very cool guy, has a lot of plans regarding the game and a good grasp on what he wants to achieve and seems to be working hard on getting there.

Playing it really feels like going back to the Fallout 1 and 2 games but roguelike style. You won't find deep dialogue trees, moral choices or complex communities in it but it has the same sense of wonder that makes you want to experience the game world. The author hasn't mentioned those games as direct inspirations but the feel is the same for me - and that was more than enough to get me hooked! It really has a rich personality and I want to watch closely how it will mature from a teenage with great potential to a fully realized member of the RL community. The game is currently lacking in quests and late-game objectives (not to mention not having an end game as of yet) but the combat and exploration now are well enough to keep you entertained for a few hours and get to know the game world a bit.

It is also not afraid to break with tradition - good sound design and the small number of keys/actions show that, and that is something I"d like to see more of in the community. There are too many rogue-clones and too few rogue-likes as far as I'm concerned. I believe that pretty much everything that is the core gameplay of Axu is already down on the table (with a few exceptions like global events and more plot) - all this game needs now is more content, some bug fixing and improving on what's already there to become one of the best roguelikes ever made. This is a huge victory, as far as I'm concerned, when there are scores of games out there that have been worked on for far longer but will never break the mold of being too rogue-like for their own good and thus set themselves up for mediocrity, when compared to the major established roguelikes. Here's to hoping that Axu will continue growing in the right direction!

Don't play this game if you're looking for the same exact roguelike experience you've seen in dozens of other games and also don't expect anything close to a full game - but if you're a RL developer like many of us here, make sure to drop by to see how an early project should look like: innovative, charming and unique.

[getter77]

v0.4.2b

Hey everyone,

    A smaller release than last time. I wanted to address some bug reports I've had, as well as some amazing ideas given by some really cool people There were crashes reported that were very hard to narrow down. I finally tracked it back to bloodstains of all things... When I made bloodstains that changed rotation based on nearby walls, things broke. It's fixed now, and in my testing, I haven't had a single issue! Hopefully this means I've actually done my playtesting duty. My apologies for the shoddy state of 0.4.2. I was so eager to get it out to you guys that I failed to test every new feature to the fullest extent. I really hope that the b patch doesn't have the same issues.

    Many of the changes on here are building blocks onto which larger features will be placed. The new algorithm for a particular interior area is shaping up nicely, but still feels bare in its current state. The same goes with the Red Desert biome to the south. I hope to be able to add interesting challenges to each area. For now, here's 0.4.2.

Have fun!

Matt (Cynapse)

  ADDITIONS/CHANGES:

    New main quests.
    A new status effect: Grounded. Characters with this effect suffer a -5 speed penalty, and a -1 accuracy penalty.
    Various familar summoning abilities for the player.
    Random quests can now have you bringing NPCs to other locations. They will act as followers until the quest's completion, or their death.
    New object: Bookshelf. For flavour only for now.
    Re-implemented name-based seeding to hopefully greatly reduce save file size down the road. Only works with world map.
    A new map generator focusing on building interiors.
    You can target stationary enemies automatically again. Will need to make a filter later on for this.
    Illumination bonuses gained from items can now be set, rather than relying on preset numbers.
    Profession balance adjustments.
    Wielding armor items no longer gives you XP towards the armor's proficiency. That XP goes to Misc Items.
    A melee attack with a firearm will also give Misc Item XP rather than Blunt.
    Firearm base melee damage now defaults to ((1d3) + (Strength/2 - 1)) rather than simply dividing the weapon's firing damage by 2.
    Barrels and stacks of items (except chests) with less than 1 item no longer have the Loot window pop up.

  FIXES:

    Settings persist after death.
    Fixed an issue with bloodstains causing saving/loading issues.
    Fixed crash when picking the "Experiment" class.
    Ka-Nil's quest line no longer spams your journal with the same quest, and properly gives you the right quest flag.
    "Blind" status effect properly shows on the status box.
    Fixed an issue with unequipping items with a full inventory.
    Fixed an issue with replacement limbs giving hunger upon attaching them.
    Followers now can correctly follow you to lower elevation areas.
    Wielding armor type items no longer displays the armor on your character. You shouldn't be shown wearing a cloak when WIELDING the cloak.
    The ability "Confusion" works again.

[getter77]

v0.4.3

Hey everyone, thanks for being so patient while I put together this post-holiday release. My work ethic took a dive after my vacation, so starting development back up was pretty tough. I'm glad I did though, and I am very proud of what I've done over the last month or so.

    0.4.3 has some pretty exciting changes, including MUCH better mod support, quest events, a complete overhaul of firearms, and two new areas. I've done much more testing this time around, but since so much has changed, it is hard to say if I caught every bug and crash. Everything is starting to come together. Axu is almost at 50% done, which is a super exciting milestone! I'm doing my best to build a robust quest system to allow for interesting interactions before diving much further into the story. With the inclusion of mod support, random quests are very easy to make, and can provide lots of flavour to the world. The Arena was a real test of how well it could perform under drastically different circumstances, and I'm happy to say it worked wonders! There are only four waves currently, as I just typed up a couple, but later on these will be increasingly challenging waves where you can win lots of money.

    The current professions are a little boring, minus maybe the Experiment. I'm hoping to implement some zany ideas to allow for drastically different gameplay types, not just a slightly different starting position.

Enough of my rambling, enjoy Axu! Don't forget to post your bug reports and suggestions (or make a thread to say hi!) on the itch.io forums at the bottom of the sale page. Donations are always welcome too, though not at all anticipated. I make Axu because I love to, not because I want to get rich.

Cheers,

    Matt (Cynapse)


COMBAT:

    Firearm Changes:
        Firearms now require ammo to fire. It can be picked up throughout the world.
        A new slot has been added to the inventory for Firearm weapons. You no longer Wield firearms by default, and instead equip them to that slot.
        Multi-shot and burst fire firearms added.
        Accuracy reduction for buckshot type firearms, but with multiple projectiles firing at once.
    Chance to shake off various status effects reduced slightly.
    Tweaked stats of various boss creatures.
    Several items have had their stats adjusted.
    Added sub-part names for body parts for added flavour in the log.
    When teleporting, enemies will forget your presence.
    Enemies can throw items and reload ranged weapons.
    Seed Spitters start with a max of 250 ammo, as their close attack is basically useless.
    All professions have had their stats increased by 1. All start with the item "Prisoner Inhibitor" that negates this increase. Getting rid of this item, and increasing your stat values is now a coming-soon quest line.

    QUESTS:

    More static and random quests.
    Quest Events that occur at certain intervals.
    Arena wave-based quests.
    Quest destinations persist through save/load cycles.

     MAP:

    New Area: The Cathedral.
    New Area: The Arena. You can fight waves of enemies here for XP and Money.
    Farm houses now have some randomness in their position.
    New cave generation algorithm that focuses on tight corridors.
    Various ambient light levels for different dungeon types.
    Barrels carry less loot, and less often.

     ABILITIES:

    Added some abilities based on current equipment. Double Strike, Shield Bash, etc.
    Abilities from traits/mutations. Gore, Trip, etc.
    More mutations with additional abilities associated with them.
    Some abilities do not gain experience or levels, as they do not need to scale.
    Abilities that do not gain experience no longer show their current level or experience in their tooltip.

     MODDING / DATA:

    Mods can be created for NPCs, Spawn Tables, Factions, Items, Professions, Quests, and Traits. These are loaded from separate folders to be more modular.
    Quests in their data files contain an area to place events. This can be done in certain events, such as OnStart, OnCompletion, OnFailure, and OnStepCompletion.
    Quest events can be used to do the following
        Spawn NPCs at a certain location.
        Spawn Objects at a certain location.
        Give the quest giver another quest.
        Teleport the player to a specific location on the local map.
        Teleport the player to a specific location on the world map.
    Professions can have items given to them by default.
    Quests can be given to NPCs in the data file.

        ART:

    Unique art for some minibosses.
    Loot icon for currency items.

     FIXES / QoL / MISC:

    Improvements to the poetry generation system.
    Added a Throw key to make it easier to pick items to throw.
    Loading world data is done via seed rather than reading from the save file. This saves ~90,000 characters in the save file.
    Static quests now ask the player if they would like to accept it.
    Fixed an error causing tiles behind doors not being illuminated even the door is open.
    Nearby red desert map tiles now line edges properly.
    Maps with ponds now have edges of surrounding biomes.
    NPCs that spawn in walls get relocated in a random open position.
    The direction icon towards the tracked quest goal now disappears when you're on top of the correct location, rather than signaling right.
    Equipping/Un-equipping items that give light update the view radius instantly.
    Item tooltips in shops no longer show the cost of the item, as it changes based on reputation/charisma/other things. The price for the item is clearly labeled elsewhere.
    Quest targets are now loaded properly in niche cases.
    Remedied an issue with Ka-Nil's initial quest.
    The courtyard outside the Ensis Stronghold no longer gets discarded when spending time away.
    Changed font colour to a slightly lighter one in the case of grey during Character Creation.
    Font colours in the combat log show if the action was taken by the player or not correctly again.
    Special areas have a failsafe, hopefully preventing them from not being placed on the world map.
    Quests now track their steps better.
    Experiment now doesn't crash the game. Again.
    Experiment profession no longer has doubles of limbs.
    Experiment profession has their body parts sorted neatly upon starting the game.
    Upon getting a mutation that adds or removes body parts, limbs are re-sorted.
    Stationary enemies can now have ranged attacks again.
    Enemies firing projectile weapons face their target.
    Nested quests now are loaded properly with their quest events.

    Mercenaries are now available for hire again.
    Many more character equipment sprites to show the player's equipped items.
    Quests save and load properly now.
    Fixed bloodstain crash again. (Typo was the culprit..)
    Generating swamps out of bounds crash fixed.
    Cult quest beginning has proper elevation for initial quest step.
    Fixed quest items not spawning.
    Curious Artifacts now separated into different items to avoid conflict between quests.
    Destroying the kin's statue doesn't take a long time anymore.
    The kin don't maul you when you break their statue, will need to balance for this.
    Waiting now restores health and stamina as quickly as resting.
    Put more checks to see if all required areas of the world map are generated. A warning message will show in the log if it doesn't work.
    Blocked damage effects and sounds shouldn't show if the entity being attacked is out of sight.
    Heat and Cold damage don't spawn a blocking effect.
    Heat/Cold resistances for NPCs properly are loaded.
    Escort quest properly has the quest NPC follow you.

[getter77]

v0.4.4

Hey everyone!

    0.4.4 looks smaller than some of the previous updates upon a first glance, but some major things have been implemented! For starters, there is now a map creator within the game. You can create unique areas for yourself (or others if you share the .map file) to explore! I had quite a bit of fun working with Unity's new UI system to get it all to work. I've also never done anything close to a painting tool before, so learning the basics was awesome! I'm very proud with how it has shaped up so far. Be sure to read the "Help" tab inside the menu for some control tips.

    Another big change is to the level up system. Before, you would get random stat gains every 3 levels. This was pretty boring, so I wanted to add some flavour. Now, every three levels triggers your character to gain a trait choice (of three random ones). These can be pretty bland, so I'll come back every now and again to add some really wacky choices for the player. This was greatly inspired by Caves of Qud's "Unstable Genome" mutation. I'll have to gather player feedback on whether or not this style of progression is too random.

    Other tweaks, balance updates, QoL improvements, and content are stated below, so I'll let you all read that rather than have me blab on about this release. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud with how far this game has come since its inception.

    Cheers,

        Matt (Cynapse)


ADDITIONS/CHANGES:

    Instead of a random stat up, every three levels, the player gains one trait out of three selections.
    Several new traits.
    You gain max HP and ST every 2 levels instead of every level.
    Offhand items have a base 5% chance to strike opponents when you attack them. (On top of your normal weapon attack)
    Added a map editor that allows the player to paint tiles onto a grid, save the map, and potentially find it in-game.
        Custom maps can be loaded in game based on the biome.
        Flood-fill implemented along side paint.
        Box and line paint implemented.
        You can load old maps and edit them.
        Some objects can be placed on top of tiles.
    Akk-Lune has a shop to give aid to those who need a boost.
    Added a little variety to the overworld map encounters with some rarer enemies.
    Enemies with ranged weapons attached to their bodies do not require ammunition, and rather produce their own. As Seed Spitters cannot move and have a very weak melee attack, it seemed right to allow them to keep on spittin'.
    Ranged NPCs can fire their weapon at close range.
    Buffed Mercenaries' HP, strength, and improved their weapon selection.
    Corpses are a little more common.
    Reduced chance of random quests.
    You automatically pick up money off the ground from the tile under you.
    You no longer see enemies' stamina bars.
    New sprites to avoid doubles in existing creatures, and edited old ones to keep consistency.
    Rivers now have plant life outlining their borders.
    Visual improvements for the Volcano interior and exterior areas.
    Changed Ka-Nil's quests around slightly. Implemented destroying the Prisoner Inhibitor in his quest line.
    Reduced clutter on the Journal page, and made it wider.
    You can now remove data through JSON modding. Areas that can be removed: Items, Quests, NPCs, Professions, and Traits.
    Quest dialogue can now contain the player's name.
    A new object you can find on the map: Cryopods. They have a random effect on opening.
    Altered the radiation calculations.

    FIXES/MISC:

    Fixed an issue with damage dealt from non-player/npc sources. The main culprit was in the Volcanic area.
    Sweep weapons no longer get multiple free attacks.
    The arena now has the items dropped saved.
    Prisoner Inhibitor can no longer be removed by attempting to equip another item onto the leg slot.
    Fixed autotiling of ice wall tiles.
    The Red Desert Oasis now isn't just a random assortment of water tiles.
    Throwing items no longer destroy themselves before dealing damage.
    Map objects spawned as quests rewards should no longer appear at the top left corner of the screen.
    Spells should no longer hurt their spawners.
    Increased the integrity of Arena quests. Hopefully no more problems will occur.
    Items are no longer removed from your inventory before talking to quest givers requiring specific items.
    The blue dot signifying NPC passivity should now show up only if they are in view.
    Fixed Mercenaries doing nothing while enemies are nearby.
    Picking up items causes npcs on screen to have their quests updated.
    Creatures in the arena don't drop money. Only the equipment they carry (for now)
    Improved integrity of prefab zones not being discarded.
    Fixed a trait bug where both "Armor" and "Defense" were used to attempt to get the same stat.
    Various quest progression fixes.
    Quests with no rewards no longer show "You received" in the log.

[getter77]

v0.4.4b hotfixin'

FIXES/CHANGES:

    You can now leave the map or rest when in sight of stationary, but out of range, enemies.
    By proxy, you can also use the 'w'alk command near these enemies. your character will stop if in range of these stationary hostiles.
    Man-Eating Plants no longer have a 100% miss chance.
    Pressing any movement key while pathing will cause the player to stop.
    Increased the width of the inventory and equipment panels.
    On loading custom maps in the editor, map objects will have their y scale properly set.
    A riposte ability triggers automatically upon having a weapon skill level at 5 or greater.
    Weapon skill at 6 or greater allows you to target body parts with the lowest amount of armor upon attacking. This is automatic.
    Attributes don't change based on equipped items between sessions.
    Throwing, Misc, and Unarmed skills are now loaded correctly.
    Heat/Cold Resistances save properly, and no longer require you to unequip/re-equip that item to gain those benefits.
    Items with the "Misc" proficiency no longer increase "Off Hand" skill.
    Zones are no longer thrown out between save and load sessions. This was causing a huge issue with screens filled with water when they weren't supposed to. I'll optimize this later down the road.
    You should hopefully no longer be able to exceed your inventory capacity. An alert will signal when you try to move with an over-full inventory.
    Quest events, like spawning specific enemies in chained quests, properly save. There were instances where players would save, come back to the game, and have the enemy they were supposed to kill not show up.
    Added a new type of item: Rods. Rods use various magical abilities without expending Stamina, or needing to learn the skill.

[getter77]

v0.4.4c hotfixin' yet more

Hello everyone.

    I apologize for the frequent patches. I wish I didn't have to double over and fix things that I assumed weren't broken, but I'm pretty darn sure the quest saving/loading bugs have been ironed out to a playable point now. I sprinkled a little content into the hotfixes to make up for my terrible mistakes.

    As far as quests go, this patch should fix the issues many have been having with various creatures not being spawned as quest targets when you reload a game. The issue here was twofold: The QuestEvent class was not properly serialized, and therefore wasn't being written or read correctly, and the fact that "Chained" quests were nested within their parents. I eliminated the parent-child relationship between all quests, instead opting for a name search to find the next one to add to the journal. Serialization now should work properly. In my tests, quest targets are spawned when they are supposed to.

    New stuff! Alongside the hotfixes, 0.4.4c also adds some pretty cool new stuff. The Frostborne Village up North now has a more unique look to it, being drawn from custom static maps made in the editor (you can make your own variations as well, if you'd like). Also, a mechanic I've been meaning to add to the game has finally made its way in as of this release: Oxygen. In many games, oxygen deprivation is as simple as "When you run out, you die, or your health deteriorates over time". In Axu, breathing in stuffy air for too long can have short-term impact on your stats. Staying under ground for too long can have serious impacts on your well-being. Popping up for some air is a good idea every now and again. These debuffs aren't permanent, so staying under to grab the McGuffin of Yendor while on 1 STR won't impact you down the road, but a sly monster may come from behind and take your life right then. There are two mutations that impact how much oxygen your body requires to maintain its health, and a new item type to completely refill your oxygen levels. With time, the O2 mechanics will be fleshed out even more. I'm just happy to have the basics in the game. It's been a long time coming.

    Keep up the great work with the feedback. It's absolutely invaluable!

    Cheers,
    Matt (Cynapse)


    Changed how quests are stored in the save file.
    Quest events are now properly serialized.
    Fixed a typo with Heavy Armor Training saying it increases Medium Armor.
    Sprint now has the proper cooldown.
    Teleporting enemies now always choose an in-sight, non-wall tile.
    Storage capacity is now properly set upon loading a game.
    Underground areas save and load properly again. I changed something with elevation that showed every visited underground area as "not visited" to the data.
    Set the quest in the Volcano's destination to the bottom.
    Digging with a Shovel or Pickaxe works again.
    You can now press the "Wait" key to interact with objects on the same tile as you.
    Readying a Rod no longer takes a turn.
    Heads can only be severed if the target has more than one. Instant deaths were not interesting.
    Body part armor display in the character screen now includes that particular part's equipped item's armor value.
    Updated the Frostborne Village look.
    Turrets now no longer have an invisible sprite.
    The log will now tell you the items you pass over, to a limit of 4.
    The log has a little space between messages, allowing much greater clarity when attempting to view just a single message.
    You can now use alternate wall tiles in the map creator.
    There is now an oxygen level indicator in your character screen. When this gets low, your stats start to decrease, simulating oxygen deprivation. As you go lower, the effect gets worse. This can be remedied with certain items or by returning to the surface and resting.
    Added a slight vignette to the screen. This gets more intense as your oxygen levels decrease.
    Added traits that increase or decrease the use of oxygen.
    Added an item type that resets your oxygen level.
    Attacking uses more oxygen.
    Volcano enemies will no longer kill themselves on Lava tiles.
    You will more effectively stop bleeding when enemies are out of sight.
    Frozen enemies stay frozen for their alotted time.
    Effective firearm range is increased with the Firearm skill.
    Accuracy no longer shows up as a two digit number in the character screen.

[getter77]

v0.4.5

Hey everyone,

    After some great feedback (again) I decided to put out one more release before the 7 Day Roguelike Challenge started. It goes from March 4-12, and should be really fun! I won't post about my submission ideas here, but I'll try to put out a blog post or three. Anyways, 0.4.5 adds a whole whack of neat stuff. I decided to port over the UI to Unity's "new" system. I'd say just about half of it is complete, minus Character Creation. This should scale much better with higher resolution screens, as some were saying the text was too small (and it really was). Not only that, but I added several options to the Options Menu to help lower end computers increase performance somewhat. I realize that Unity is quite taxing on systems, but I'm doing everything I can to slim stuff down on my end.

    One of the biggest worries I had was the Quest system. Things were failing left and right, and it sucked. I think I've fixed all the cases where things fail drastically, requiring a restart to fix. Please let me know if I missed anything in particular. The end of 0.4.5's development was somewhat rushed due to commitments this week, so testing was performed only in certain trouble areas.

    Some changes you might want to know if you're a returning player:

    Regen Tonics no longer give you a bunch of health upon using it. They regenerate (hence the name) a bit of HP every turn until they run out. Better Tonics last longer.
    NPC merchants have finite money.
    Bio Cores no longer you equipping them to work. You just need to have one in your inventory.
    Keybindings finally save between sessions! Yay!

    Read below if you'd like to know the gritty details. No spoilers this time. Remember to visit the FORUMS to provide feedback, or even just say hi!

    Wish me luck on my 7DRL!

    - Matt (Cynapse)


    Switched many UI windows over to Unity's new UI system. The following is a list of the ported states:
        Inventory and Equipment windows.
        Throwing item panel.
        Ability window.
        Item tooltips.
        Loot window.
        Shop menu.
        Alert window.
        Quest completion window.
        Side panel.
    Edited some tooltip text to fit the new system.
    Better HP/ST bar graphics.
    Options menu now segments audio/visual/gameplay/misc options.
    Made the Sandstorm effect a little less invasive.
    Various performance improvements, mostly every-frame checks.
    Grounded enemies don't play the hit animation.
    Edited quest dialogue to flow a little better.
    Tracked quests show up at the top of the journal.
    Tracked quest names show up as another color in the journal page.
    Fixed an exception when generating caves.
    Crashed ship objects will no longer randomly show up in prefab maps.
    Added a variety of custom caves to find within mountains.
    The "Charge" ability now properly specifies the amount of tiles you can charge. (Ability level + 3).
    Added another layer of protection preventing stationary enemies from moving.
    New static maps.
    New objects that can be placed in the map editor.
    Options Menu:
        Added an option to toggle weather on and off.
        Added an option to remove the vignette effect.
        Added an option to turn off particle effects (including damage numbers)
        Added an option to disable outlines on walls and water. (increasing performance)
    Switched keybinds from strings to keycodes to prevent translation time.
    Merchants now have a budget, and cannot buy more goods than they can afford.
    Merchants have their inventories shuffled at regular intervals, rather than per-screen load.
    Merchants gold gets resupplied at the same interval, and scales a little with world danger level.
    Adjusted stats of mid-game enemies.
    Bio Cores no longer need to be equipped to use. Mutant characters with their back slot covered weren't able to use late-game armor because of the slot dependency.
    Armors with armor values less than 1 are not counted towards proficiency blocking.
    Regen Tonics now heal you over the course of multiple turns, rather than one huge block at once.
    Removed sprites of characters swimming (temporary).
    Removed the secondary keybindings (temporary).
    Keybindings save between games.
    Fixed some issues with digging over tiles you shouldn't be able to dig over.
    Tweaked quest finished testing. It should fail less often when trying to talk to Quest npcs.
    The Vigilante profession no longer has the "Sprint" ability to start. This was a change made for testing that I forgot to retract.
    Creeping Tendrils now use the "Unarmed" skill.
    Character profession name is now loaded and displayed in the character screen.
    You no longer get a message saying your inventory is too full upon death.
    The "Breaking Inhibitions" quest will only show up if you still have the Prisoner Inhibitor at the point where you get the quest.
    Akk-Lune moves to the Ensis Stronghold Exterior once you complete his quests.
    Reduced the amount of slow that can occur on a character in Tundra to 1 per turn.

[getter77]

v0.4.6

Hey everyone,

    Thanks for your patience. It's been almost a month since the last Axu update, which was a simple hotfix. I intended to add more to this release, but got sidetracked with some personal stuff. Don't worry, everything is okay!
    0.4.6 brings some great UI additions, large performance improvements, balance changes, and diseases. Oh yeah, and I finally got around to adding Shift + Key bindings for those of you who prefer '>' / '<' over '-' / '+' for stairs, and other such keys. A main focus this time around was adding depth to the limb system. Of course, diseases tie in with this focus! Leprosy causes random limbs to fall off over long durations. Each fallen limb also contains the disease, so either eating it or re-attaching it will only worsen your symptoms. As a more "positive" disease, (because there is such a thing in Axu) Crystallization causes your limbs to gain armour over time, at the cost of Dexterity and Speed. I hope to add some cool and interesting diseases as I progress through development.
    Anyways, I won't keep you from playing the new version!

Cheers,

    Matt (Cynapse)

UI / Screen:
    UI Panels ported to new system:
        Yes/No Prompt
        Character selection screen.
        Character stats panel.
        Item actions panel.
        Equipment slot selection.
        Dialogue Window.
        Status effects display.
    Switched from one large mesh to 45x30 tile objects with sprites. This increases performance, and allows a greater versatility in how to display the map. (Local map)
    Got rid of tile borders.
    To show walls vs walkable ground better, many areas have had their colours reworked.
    Items can now have unique display names. This is used to show what kind of severed limb has been picked up, or the name of the person who was attached to it.
    Added support for multiple resolutions of sprites. For both NPCs and tiles.
    HP/ST will no longer scale off screen with larger amounts.
    Sell costs of items now display properly.
    Fixed some shop oddities.
    Stumps' names show up as red in the equipment screen.
    Fixed some mouse issues with the equipment panel.
    Added an option to the main menu where you can change screen resolution. Very limited for now. The new UI system doesn't scale as well as I thought.
    Smoothed character and zoomed-in camera movement.
    Shop panels display stack amounts of multiple items.
    Loading icon more prevalent.

    Balance:
    Decreased the stat values of normal severed limbs. Attaching and re-attaching these will only be a bad thing for your character.
    Increased stat values for high-tier replacement limbs.
    Increased the cost to attach limbs.
    Severed limbs now remember their equipped items if they are unable to be removed from the limb itself (like the Prisoner Inhibitor)
    Re-attaching a severed limb with items like above instantly re-equips that item.
    Stone or Crystal body parts aren't severed with slash damage.
    Bandits will appear less often in the early game. (Before completing the first dungeon)
    Paths slightly favor cardinal directions over diagonals, so the player won't attempt to open all adjacent doors while pathing.
    Spawns capped and scale better with world's danger level.
    Removed shop money limit. This got in the way of higher-level characters, and only caused annoyance. Skyrim, anyone?

    Additions:
    Implemented Shift + Key Keybindings!
    Added resources back into the game.
    Added a set of mechanical wings that can be worn on your back.
    Added a new type of body part that can be attached without a limb slot in place. These mechanical limbs increase stats, and add an extra slot to equip items to.
    Added a Book Merchant to the Ensis interior area. He sells Tomes.
    Unique maps for ruins.
    Added two new area types: Dead Forests and Mutant Villages.
    Added five new NPC types, including a few late-game large enemies.
    Two new factions with unique dialogue and regions.
    Added diseases.
        Leprosy makes your limbs fall off one by one until cured.
        Crystallization causes your limbs to slowly be coated by a thick crystal, preventing them from being severed. -DEX, +DEF
        Limbs can hold diseases. If re-attached, grant that disease again.
        NPCs can also have you contract the illnesses upon their attack. Can be negated with various resistances and high Endurance.
        Diseases can be treated by doctors for a high price.
    Version control for save files.

    FIXES:
    Fixed some typos.
    You can now click the "Continue" button on alert windows, and be able to move without pressing Enter or Escape.
    Fixed vim keys directional defaults.
    Fixed the continue button on the main menu not handling clicks.
    Both the main menu and character creation screen allow the use of up/down arrows to navigate their menus.
    Attaching an arm gives you back your Offhand slot.
    Hunger and weather are now properly reset when starting a new game.
    Quest items should no longer be dropped by regular enemies unless they're supposed to.
    Teleporting shouldn't send you back to the same tile anymore.
    Blocking with shields actually has an effect on damage, not just the number that pops up.
    Failing quests now removes the quest icon.

[getter77]

v0.5.0   

Hey everyone, Matt here.

    It's been over two months since Axu's last release. This is due in part to a short hiatus where I spread my social wings a bit. I was very over-worked, and it was starting to affect the quality of the game. I'm back with fresh eyes! 0.5 is a huge milestone, as it signifies I am roughly half way through the development of the game! It's been almost four years since the inception of the game, and much has changed since Axu's original design, but I am very happy with the current direction.

    One of the best things about this release is showing off the new art. I am currently working with a very talented artist who has volunteered their time to create new tiles/sprites for the game! This is still a work in progress, and only some art has been replaced. I still think it looks much better than the old style. To better suit this new art, the game's camera is now pixel-perfect and zoomed-in. Tell me what you think!

    You'll see in the changelog below that many bugs have been squashed. This has been my largest priority over the course of the last two months. I've been getting many reports with the same issues, so I figured I would go ahead and focus on those before releasing.

    Anyways, thank you to everyone who has supported the development by sharing the game around, making videos, streaming the game, donating, or even just downloading and playing for five minutes. It warms my heart to see others enjoying my creation, and I hope to only make it better in the future.

Cheers,

Matt (Cynapse)

    Added a safeguard for loading keybindings from previous versions that didn't support Shift + Key keybindings.
    Got rid of the death animation for enemies. The wait time between an NPC's death and the destruction of the gameobject associated with them could be the culprit of "ghost" NPCs remaining even off screen.
    Teleport won't put you in the wall at the top of the screen.
    Fixed "x(item amount)" from showing up twice in the tooltip and inventory screens.
    Traits under the character panel take up less space.
    Decreased saving and loading times.
    Added a debug option to increase the turn counter.
    On the main menu, if there is no save data to load, the Continue button does not show up.
    Switching scenes changed to Async Operations to have less jagged transitions.
    Reduced the save file size drastically by seeding all local screens.
    Fixed an issue with quest target NPCs not appearing after a reload.
    Equipping items no longer sets your inventory over limit.
    Some blockable tiles cannot be dug through, like trees or cacti.
    Ice walls, when dug through, leave an ice tile.
    Poetry lists are now only filled when generating a poem.
    The camera is pixel perfect now. Because of this, I had to have zoomed in as the default.
    The camera now clamps to the sides of the screen.
    While 'l'ooking, the camera follows the cursor.
    Details in 'l'ook mode now show in the correct position, and are clamped to the edges of the screen.
    New sprites for tiles and NPCs.
    Autotiled water, swamp water, desert, and sand.
    Added a slider for the "Traits" panel in the character screen.
    The sliders on the inventory and shop screens now follow the currently selected number automatically.
    The window no longer resets to fullscreen upon death.
    The resolution of the window now scales to your screen if fullscreen.
    Wave 5 of the Arena quests no longer has Test Subjects, who can teleport out of bounds, to kill.
    Grounded characters can no longer move.
    Replacing limbs via a Doctor actually takes the money away.
    Time spent reading items now properly relies on your Intelligence rather than your Endurance.
    Removing the Prisoner Inhibitor now boosts all your stats, as intended.
    Severing limbs properly adds/subtracts stats based on its equipped item.
    New quests.
    You are now prompted to save before exiting to prevent save scumming.
    Removed crafting menu, craftable items, and resources. They weren't adding anything except complexity to the game.
    The Enter key on the keypad now works as an alternate "Select" button. It cannot be rebound right now.
    Many many more changes/fixes/additions I forgot.