Sorcerer King Beta 2 Dev Snapshot Now Available

from SorcererKing Forums

Greetings!

Beta 2 is coming along nicely, and it’s full of new content and lots of requested features. Lead designer Brad Wardell posted a dev journal with a roadmap of what’s coming to SK both in the near term and in the big picture, which has a lot of great info. Beta 2 specifically includes:

  • Guardian and Tyrant sovereigns

  • New heroes

  • Geomancy! Raise mountains or sink land into the ocean

  • All eight minor factions

  • Bug squashing, balancing across the board, and much more

We’re taking the unusual step of making one of our development snapshots available as an opt-in beta for you all. Beta 2 is still planned for a mid-November release, but you can check out a fair amount of the content today – with the caveat that this build is buggy and incomplete, even in beta terms.

Read the full patch notes below.

To download the opt-in beta, do the following:

  • Right-click Sorcerer King in Steam, select Properties

  • Click the “Betas” tab

  • In the drop-down menu, choose “Beta 2 Development Snapshot”

  • Steam will update your game automatically

You can revert to the public build at any time by repeating these steps and choosing “NONE” within the beta selection dropdown.

We would love to hear your feedback, comments, bug reports, and suggestions for the Beta 2 opt-in just as we do for all our builds, so don’t be shy about posting them on the official or Steam forums.

Thanks for your support, and happy conquering!


Sorcerer King Beta 1.2 Dev Snapshot Patch Notes

  • New sovereigns available; Guardian & Tyrant

  • New maps; Gilden, Magnar, Archipelago, Revive, & Ruined (we may remove 1-2 for Beta 2)

  • Terraforming spells added

  • Minor Factions all have unique quests, can be allied with, and fight monsters.

  • New thrall mechanic (like unrest tied to Doomsday counter, takes away logistics)

  • New art in some tactical maps

  • UI notification system (for enemies in territory, etc.)

  • Champions losing combat now gives a Doomsday counter penalty instead of a permanent injury

  • Heal Shard spell added

  • Some SK strongholds in the world at start

  • Lots of additional abilities added to units for tactical battles

  • New monster lairs

    • Wolf Lair added

    • SK Garrisons added

    • Failed adventurers added

  • Enchantment & special ability animation & VFX fixes/additions

  • Swamp Giant Fortress model added

  • New enemy & minor faction units

    • Wraith

    • Dreadling

    • Swamp Spider

    • Garrot

    • Ship

  • Spells now increase in lore cost as more are earned

  • SK AI improvements and additional interactions

  • Quests can result in future indifference, cowardice, courage, fame, compassion, cruelty, and honor events

  • Starting units now visible on Sovereign Select screen

  • Bug fixes for sliding and bad animation during auto-resolved combat

  • Bug fixes for dialogue windows being displayed in the wrong order

  • Pioneers now start behind other friendly units in tactical battles

  • VFX for doomsday counter reductions

  • VFX for transition into tactical battles

  • Pioneer attack added. Donkey headbutt!

  • Roads clipping terrain fixed

  • Lots of misc bug fixes

  • Probably a fair number of misc bug additions
30,168 views 11 replies
Reply #1 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Really looking forward to taking this for a spin. Keep up the great work!

Also, has beta 2 been postponed a bit? You originally targeted November 6th?

Reply #2 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Sounds promising! I will take it around the block this weekend.

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Reply #3 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Wonderful. Thanks for this. :)

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

When I choose "beta 2 development snapshot" i am asked for a code to unlock this beta. Does the beta2-opt-in require a code?

Reply #5 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Just pretend that code box is not there. It is a part of the steam UI where betas can be code-required, this game does not need it.

Reply #6 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Did you fix the problemw here if your cities kill the lieutenants you cant finish the game?

Reply #7 from SorcererKing Forums Top

I loved finding the Wizard hero along with Bill and Ted. Excellent! ;P

Reply #8 from Elemental Forums Top

Eliminating Movement penalty doesn't seem to be working at all.  I got both the Ranger skill that's meant to remove it, and also a Compass that's meant to remove it for Forests and Swamps, and heavy terrain such as forest still costs two movement points.

Reply #9 from SorcererKing Forums Top

So much good stuff happening that I'm going to give it its own thread.

Reply #10 from Elemental Forums Top

I like where you're going with the minor factions. I wish I could talk to the cities, right now I can only talk to their units. I also wish there was more of a ramp-up in quest difficulty from them. I met Pariden and they immediately tasked me with reshaping some legendary crown from three pieces of legendary something found only in the legendary depths of legendary itself. They should definitely start out smaller - deliver 10 iron ore ingredients, give us a pioneer unit and so on.

One issue the gameplay is suffering from is obfuscated mechanics. There are events that give "+2 threat" or "+1 compassion" but I really have no idea what these do. If they unlock new quest options then you should clearly state that those quest options require such things. And if they're just there to alter the sorcerer king behaviour, then don't say "+2 threat", instead "sorcerer king grows more suspicious" and later on "the sorcerer king is focusing all his efforts on you!". Or even better, "a sorcerer king army is heading towards your city!"

Reply #11 from SorcererKing Forums Top

Hmm, the reply function isn't working for me and hasn't for some time.

 

I completely agree with Heavenfall. His sentiments are going in the my write up that I'll have in the next couple days. There needs to be a ramping up of quest legendary-ness.