We invite you to try Wills and Wonders Alpha 6.3 with the new Hardcore mode. The stakes were never higher as this new game mode will push your strategies to the limit. There’s no turning back now because if you are slain on the battlefield you will be buried there. It’s not as simple as win or lose anymore because every battle could cost you more than you’re willing to pay.



What was the main aspiration for Wills and Wonders?

“I built Wills and Wonders with the idea to create a grand strategy game that would allow for large battles without bogging the player down by making them wait between every action they take. That’s why we built Wills and Wonders around an asynchronous gameplay scheme.”

Asynchronous?

“In our game you can begin moving a character then target another one and move them as well or attack an enemy or whatever you want while the other action is still taking place.”

What were some of the difficulties behind that?

“We needed to make sure that this wouldn’t change the turn based aspect of the game. So while that action is taking place the end result is calculated as a placeholder. So let’s say you decide to move somewhere and you click to move another character, the fact that the first one is still in route won’t have an effect on what you can do with the other character.”

That sounds like quite the task giving that there is so many different abilities in the game.

“That’s another aspect we really wanted to focus on. Player choice was very important to us. We wanted people to constantly try new things instead of sticking to one play style. The only way we could imagine that would be to give the player total freedom in the world. Let them choose how they will upgrade the various units in the game. Let them decide what skills they will equip on their characters.”

Well it seems like you have a pretty solid alpha now so what’s next in development?

“We basically have the infrastructure in place of how we wanted the game to play out. Now we have to work on the games style, replacing placeholder art and upgrading the interface.”

So can we expect to see anything new in the way of gameplay?

“Of course, gameplay has always been our primary concern. Style has become so important because we need to attract new players to help our funding goals. We have so many ideas of how to improve the game and take the gameplay further. I for one would love to make epic god battles so the game continues after the player conquers the map. Multiplayer is another goal we would be really excited to work on.”

So basically it all comes down to how many copies you sell?

“That’s right. As a self-funded indie company it was really difficult to start a game of this size. We didn’t want to think about budget and limit the game into something that we wouldn’t want to play. We really hoped that the players would like the idea and help support us but we under estimated the need for marketing.”

Well it’s a terrific game and I wish you guys the best of luck.

“Thank you and I hope to keep improving on this concept for years to come.”


Wills and Wonders has come a long way from where it began and we’d like you to take a trip with us through memory lane, with version history.

6.3.1a
- Fixed Back button display after combat.
- Fixed Fury and Faery not using their evade trait.
- Fixed some map placeholders positioning and graphic display.
- Fixed net chance not displaying for left most hex.
- Fixed an issue where summons would return with the party.
- Added extra tooltip on scrolls to explain ability.
- Added level and experience display to towns.
- Parties that have already taken their turn will now display with a red tint on the map.
- All territories will now earn 9 multiplied by their level of gold a turn. Before town values would vary from 3 to 15 depending on location.
- Changed Surrender to Retreat allowing the player to escape from battle.
Added Hardcore mode:
- Player will be prompted with a chance to do hardcore mode when starting a new game.
- When a creature is dead at the end of a battle it will be lost.
- When a commander is dead at the end of a battle that commander and his entire party will be lost.
- Fixed turn taken data getting mixed up when commander dies.

6.2a
- Fixed graphics not rendering for some Windows 8 and 10 users.
- Fixed some files carrying over after save slot deletion.
- Fixed issue with a tutorial spawn point.

6.1.0a
- Changed AI thinking display to use town names instead of numbers.
- Quest completed highlight is now more visible.
- Combat text now has abbreviations.
- Fixed spawning misplaced during territory battles due to new map placeholders.
- Added an exit button to the window border.
- Fixed issue with UI not drawing to the screen.
- Fixed mouse detection issues in windowed mode and other DPI related issues.

5.6a
Fixed tutorial issue with being instructed to move to a placement position.

5.5a
Fixed issue with water animation drawing for some flying creatures.

5.4a
Added graphics for Sentinel.
Added sound effects for Sentinel.
Added graphics for Faery.
New Waset battle map.

5.3a
Fixed issue with capturing creature dieing during tutorial.
Fixed issue with Miss causing calculation failures on AE attacks.
Fixed Log not showing summoning spells.
Fixed screenshot naming.
Fixed territories exceeding level boundaries.
God effect tip changed.
God effect will now work as described.
Increased chance to capture.
Plague can now be resisted on spread.
Arcane wall now gives 5 Will a turn instead of 2.
Spirit Wolves now based on Shaman's attack instead of level.
Prevent additional Wills and Wonders applications from opening.
Decreased mouse move deactivation sensitivity.
Font will now use vertex rendering.
World AI will now attack with their strongest parties.
World AI should no longer repeat an action consecutively.
New GUI for the saved games screen.
New interface for quests.


5.2a
Optimized image buffers.
Increased applications allocated space.
Fixed transfers on Zombie despawn.
Fixed DoT's failing with new speed home protocols.
Fixed issue not allowing attack or net in some cases?
Fixed Medicare quest spawning Pixies at higher levels.
Fixed issues with Giant graphics.
Fixed Ferocity not overwriting from stronger caster.
Fixed some negative effects not overwriting each other properly.
Fixed display issues with Insidious Wall and Arcane Wall's Will cost.
Fixed Jester's Court issues on some maps.
Fixed crash with AI pathing.
Increased experience points gained from combat.
New skill, Cloak of Flames for Sorcerer.
New skill, Meteor Doom for Sorcerer.
New skill, Holy Vestige for Paladin.
New Skill, Intimidating Shout for Berserker.
New Skill, Sentinel for Gunner.
New Skill, Camouflage for Gunner.
New Skill, Circle of Protection for Enchanter.
Increased strength of Eyden.
Guard is now an aura, reducing damage by 50% around caster.
Fefer now effected by Shield of Brambles and Cloak of Flames.
Gunner basic attack range reduced to 3.
Gunner attack increased by 1.
AI will now try to avoid visible hazards in most cases.
All Barrier types and Hearth now act as a light source in fog.
Activate Loki by defeating Jester's Court.
Stealth is now implemented for the AI to use.
Hearth will now damage during DoT phase if under character.
Slight changes to some units idle animations.
Added dismiss button to territories.
Added graphics for Draugr.
Added graphics for Map11.


5.1a
Fixed Graphic issue with Giant attacking west.
Fixed graphic issue with Knight Idle in the southwest direction.
Fixed story quests not rewarding items.
Fixed Trade Run quest not properly loading.
Fixed character start position on map15 during surrounded quest.
Fixed error on launcher in some rare cases.
Fixed territories displaying unmodified amount of gold a turn.
Fixed experience points carrying over to newly started quests.
Fixed combat quest reward display issues.
Fixed AI safety checks.
Fixed creatures on higher level quests having incorrect statistics.
Fixed graphic issues with Warg.
Fixed Spirit Wolf in rare cases returning to party after battle.
Fixed hex not drawing correctly in rare instances.
Fixed issue with netted creature going invisible.
Updated world information projector graphic to a 4 frame animation.
Fast Turns will now be automatic when dealing with the defender bonus.
Nests will no longer spawn in water.
Adjustments to some water animations.
Faerys now have Aura of Resistance.
General tweaks to characters and creatures statistics.
Increased Wurm, Salamander, and Hydra's armor.
Increased Hydra's health points.
Removed armor values of weaker units.
Troll, Giant, and Cyclops statistics adjusted.
Lowered Phoenix and Thunderbird's attack.
Rogue now has Dark resistance.
Keyboard buffer now clears on new scenes.
Stealth now shows by making character translucent.
AI will now choose closest units to move towards.
AI compass will now ignore stealth units when there is visible units.
AI will no longer avoid Bear Traps and Land Mines.
Added Ghoul casting animation.
Added climate specific character select backgrounds.
Added graphics for Magyaroc's battle map.

4.1.3a
Reorganized patch notes.
Patch will now include all added media starting from build number.
Abilities with sprite animations will now run for all 6 frames.
Negative statistics will now remove on death.
Negative statistics will now remove correctly.
Cura will now remove negative statistics.
Cura is now a minor heal.
Upgrade from Adventurer now links correctly.
Summoned wearing off will now show effect.
Summoned creature on death will now show effect.
Fixed Quest alignment.
Quest home sweet home is now easier.
Jester's special now cost 3 more will.
Captured list now reset before a battle.
Pixie will run attack when casting barrier.
Fixed Guard tip.
Fixed some text alignment.
Netting will no longer work when out of range.
Netting will now give experience.
Reworked AI healer/shaman.
Changes to AI pixie.
Reworked critical damage.
Trolls now start with 3 will.
AI will no longer group more creatures then 6.
Increased chance of potions in higher quests.
Quests and territories rebalanced.
Less likely to get commander.
Can get a commander on later quests but less likely.
AI rebalanced.
Attacked space now always targets opponent who is alive.
Troll AI no longer casts smash without enough will.
Fireshot now works. Will not be fixed for characters that have skill already or inventory.
Some changes to rendering timers.
Increased player camera movement speed.
Tips will now only fade out on pick up instead of clicking.
Can now move the screen by holding down the left mouse button.
Actions in combat now require mouse release.

4.1.2a
Mouse wheel reactivated.

4.1.1a
Can now capture and obtain items when attacking virgin territories.
Fixed all issues with moving and attacking territories.
Quests reset on take over.
Quests are now easier.
Increased AI castle experience gained.
Increased AI creatures captured on quests.
Archer and Vagrant attack increased.
Fixed bug lowering movement of adventurer when upgrading.
Slight increase for vagrant and warrior defense.
Fixed experience gain for multiple targets.
Fevered Touch is now twice as effective.
Fixed issue with statistic reducers.

6.3.1a
- Fixed Back button display after combat.

- Fixed Fury and Faery not using their evade trait.

- Fixed some map placeholders positioning and graphic display.

- Fixed net chance not displaying for left most hex.

- Fixed an issue where summons would return with the party.

- Added extra tooltip on scrolls to explain ability.

- Added level and experience display to towns.

- Parties that have already taken their turn will now display with a red tint on the map.

- All territories will now earn 9 multiplied by their level of gold a turn. Before town values would vary from 3 to 15 depending on location.

- Changed Surrender to Retreat allowing the player to escape from battle.


Added Hardcore mode:

- Player will be prompted with a chance to do hardcore mode when starting a new game.

- When a creature is dead at the end of a battle it will be lost.

- When a commander is dead at the end of a battle that commander and his entire party will be lost.

- Fixed turn taken data getting mixed up when commander dies.