I'm excited to (finally) announce that the beta release of the new, ground-up, completely rewritten Everpixel Tactics is here! If you wanna check it out, switch the game to the beta branch and give it a whirl.

If you play the beta branch, expect bugs...and lots of updates! I'll be updating the beta branch frequently over the next month or two. I am hoping to polish the beta branch and fully release the new version of the game back into Early Access in a month or two. In the meantime, I'll be posting regular patch updates!

List of known issues:

• There's sometimes a soft lock that occurs in the tutorial when users try to quickly skip dialogue
  
• Several missing tooltips
  
• Several AoE Melee attacks have faulty animations and/or don't work correctly
  
• Several racial perks are not implemented
  
• Several traits are not implemented

It's. Finally. Almost. There. The ground-up rewrite of Everpixel Tactics took much, much, much longer than I'd planned. And it's still not done - there is still so much more to do. But the game is much better for it. If I may say so myself, the game both looks and feels much better than the previous iteration.

For those of you who have been occasionally checking in on the status of the game - thank you. I was encouraged that several players felt that the game had potential; it definitely motivated me through the grind of rewriting the entire codebase.

As promised in an earlier devblog, I'm going to release a "beta branch" for those of you who want to play the game before I'm ready to fully release the next version. In addition to the help I could use testing the game, I also want to release it because, frankly, I want to prove to everyone that I'm still dedicated to releasing Everpixel Tactics.

I plan to release the beta branch on 3-10-24. It's going to be missing a lot of features yet (enumerated below); I intend to spend another month before I transition the beta branch to a release. I still need to do a lot of work updating the AI, addressing bugs as they appear, and a several "Quality of Life" type things.

When I fully release 0.6.0, it will come with a new Features Roadmap. Until then, here's a non-exhaustive list of features I am tracking that need to be implemented before I fully release 0.6.X of Everpixel Tactics:

• Physical Injuries should cause damage every turn
  
• Campaign Tutorial
  
• Long-range weapons (polehammers, halberds, etc.)
  
• Implement all racial bonuses
  
• Add several more mission "chassis"
  
• Implement all tooltips
  
• Add effect icons to the "hit panels"
  
• Add skill bonuses to mage gear
  
• Edit the "Aegis" Perk
  
• Add soundFX for moving characters
  
• Add idle sound FX for characters (e.g., slimes, zombies, etc.)
  
• Add effect icons to the "hit panels"
  
• Implement all traits
  
• Remove durability stats and references

I've been hard at work rewriting the game for what seems like an eternity, and I've been promising 0.6.0 of the game ever longer than that. Somehow, someway, I'm nearing an actual release - even if that release is two months behind where I had originally hoped for.

I have only two remaining features to finish up before the new release is ready: campaign missions and the tutorial. I will finish up the campaign mission feature and then release a "Beta Branch" as I finish up the tutorial.

I'm hoping to release a Beta release branch so that players can "kick the tires" on the Beta branch as I develop the tutorial. While I have learned my lesson about committing to an actual timeframe, I'm guessing I'll have the beta branch ready for release in roughly two weeks.

I'll probably leave the beta release out for a few weeks as bugs are identified (and commensurately squashed) and I tidy up the AI. From there, 0.6.0 will be ready!

I surprised myself at how quickly I was able to implement a few features over the last few weeks: mercenaries, leveling up, and "The Armory." Check out some of the screenshots.

Even as I rewrite the game's code, I continue to commission the last few pixel assets I need for the game. I'm excited to get the new version out if just to start sharing some of the awesome pixel art by the fantastic Benvictus. Take a look at some of his excellent, excellent work.

I didn't meet my self-imposed Christmas deadline to get version 0.6.0 of Everpixel Tactics released...but I have made good progress. I am no longer going to make promises as to when updates come out, but I am hard at work on the next one, rest assured. I fully realize that this is very George RR Martin-esque...but it is, after all, something I do in my spare free time.

Anyway, I have been hard at work, and I hope to get the revamped game out soon. Rewriting much of the foundational perk code has been taking much longer than I had hoped, but now that it's in place, progress on re-implementing the perk trees is going smoothly.

I've completed most of the core code: AI behavior trees, battle control flow, and most of the User Interface stuff. In fact, all that remains now is to finish a few more perk trees, add the actual campaign logic, and 0.6.0 should be ready to launch. I'm excited to start pushing updates with some regularity now that the entire codebase has been rewritten.



As before, one of the main ideas behind Everpixel Tactics is the ability for a player to build a party from a highly-customizable set of mercenaries. Mercenaries can choose perks from an assortment of perk trees. So far, I've implemented the following trees:

• Arcanomancy
  
• Athletics
  
• Biomancy
  
• Heavy Armor
  
• Heavy Weaponry

• Necromancy
  
• Knight
  
• Soldier
  
• Warrior

• Gaiamancy
  
• Pyromancy
  
• Cryomancy
  
• Death Knight
  
• Paladin
  
• Berserker
  
• Skirmisher
  
• Archer
  
• Duelist

Once 0.6.0 is released, I'm hoping to push a new (minor) perk tree once every week or two. These are perk trees that are relatively-easy to implement and test. These are perk trees like "Knight" that are mostly comprised of passive perks. The magic perk trees--like Biomancy--take a lot more work and will likely be on a once-a-month frequency, if not a little bit longer.

In the previous versions of Everpixel Tactics, players had to purchase gear for their squad. In order to encourage experimentation with various builds, the 0.6.0 release will take a different approach: players will have access to an Armory which will provide players with free equipment. Every type of equipment available in the game can be found here - swords, armors, mage robes, etc. Of course, there are limits - the items available in the armory are not magical. Players will still be able to acquire magical equipment obviously, but these rarified items will typically come as rewards from completing missions.


Programming user interfaces (UI's) is tedious. It consumes a lot of time proportionate to the other kinds of programming, and it's been a slog to reimplement every UI in the game. But I think that the work speaks for itself - the game looks a lot sharper and more crisp than it did before. I hope players will find it less of an eye-sore.

For those of you who have been checking in occasionally on the state of the game - thank you for your continued support. I've not pushed an update for the game for a long time for two primary reasons:

Reason one: I burned out. And I burned out from overwork on the game and--frankly--because the bad code led to me having to work harder than I should. Keep in mind, I do this game as a hobby; a passion project (I have a real job as a software engineer that keeps me QUITE busy...)

Reason two: I realized that reason one was in part due to bad code (and the bad code was in part from my trying to rush out features.) I've been doing software a long time - I should have known better. I doubled-down on my desire to not simply push a bad game out, but to push out a game that I myself wanted to play. So rather than continue to work with bad code, I opted to re-write every line of code in a very-high quality manner. This will make adding new features easier, and it will make debugging easier.

I've been hard at work on rewriting the entire game, and I think I'm on track to get the new and improved Everpixel Tactics--new code and all--out by Christmas.


While I was rewriting the game, I took advantage of the chance to scrutinize every decision of the game. Every mechanic; every stat. And so the new version of Everpixel Tactics has a few notable changes.

I started by asking "What makes a game fun?" I then asked "What features can I reasonably implement by myself to make the game fun?" I've been playing games a long time, and games typically only do a few things well. Games that try to do everything oftentimes end up being very "meh." And so, being but one dev, I asked "What fun things should Everpixel Tactics do well?" I then asked "What fun things can I realistically add with my finite time?"

So, I whittled what Everpixel Tactics should be down into its essence. Like before, it's to be a tactical, roguelike RPG with a special emphasis on wide-open character customization and replayability. No more exploring the world, no more managing factions. Just a lean, tight focus on battles in a zany, surreal world with a lot of "roguelike stuff" thrown in for good measure.







The game's emphasis has been--and always will be--tactical, fantastical battles. On the surface, Everpixel Tactics's battles haven't changed. Under-the-hood, however, the entire codebase is leaner, tighter, and more refined. It will be much easier to track down the inevitable bugs that are found.

I even rewrote all of the AI behaviors of the game. Before, every type of AI had their own behavior tree...and because of it, debugging AI behaviors became a nightmare. A bug in one tree could take hours to fix in all other trees if just because there were so many trees, and a lot of them used the same (buggy) logic. So, what to do? Obviously, whittle everything down to one gigantic behavior tree where branches of the tree are themselves what were formerly separate trees. It works so much better, and so one of the things that used to be the buggiest of all (agent AI) is now one of the easiest things to work with (with respect to the code, that is.)

That said, there is a tangible change from the player's perspective. Where the old version of the game allowed players to take a squad of 12 characters into battle, this version will allow for a party of up to 6. I think this is a good change, though, as it should reduce the amount of time battles take to play out. Too low of a number, and players feel as if they're forced into certain party setups. Too large a number and battles take forever - not to mention players start to lose attachment to their individual mercenaries. 6 is a good number, I think.




The stats themselves are now simpler; gone is the complicated system of primary stats and secondary stats. What's left is now analogous to the old "secondary stats" (melee, magic, power, defense, etc.) plus the usual hit points, action points, etc. I made this change because I felt that it complicated the game too much and offered too little in return. It felt like needless complexity for the sake of complexity, and so it got simplified.




The campaign is also simpler. Players will no longer be able to explore the world (sorry.) This decision was based primarily on the fact that it is a TON of work to realize this, and I am but one mere mortal. The campaign is now short, too - roughly 10 missions-long give-or-take (I haven't finalized the number yet.) The emphasis is on making players make tough, strategic choices about which missions to take during a campaign as those missions will have significant rewards (e.g., powerful artifacts, stat boosts, or even fantastical creatures as party members), but may also have consequences for the remainder of the campaign (such as angering a titan.)

The "corruption" of the world is still in the game, however. Players embarking on missions in areas of high biomancy magic will still find all characters have much higher health pools. Similarly, players embarking in areas of high necromancy will still find the dead rising from the grave and attacking them.





I'll be honest - I didn't know what was doing with respect to the user interface, screen ratios, or pixel aspects before I started Everpixel Tactics. I've learned a lot since starting the game, and I took every opportunity to incorporate those lessons learned into the new version of the game. Every pixel should be sharper; every UI component should be cleaner.

Take a look at the old versus new:


Unlike before, I'm not going to try to stick to a tight roadmap (down that path lie burnout.) Instead, I'm going to try to keep roughly to a roadmap. All the while, I'm going to push out small, frequent changes once I release the new-and-improved version of the game.

The new version of the game will not be feature complete; but it will be playable. Anyway, I am encouraged that folks are checking in on the progress of the game, I promise the game is not abandonware, and I promise that I'm going to (eventually) release the best game that I can. Thanks.

Firstly, Everpixel Tactics is not abandonware - I have not abandoned the game. This last year has been crazy between work (lots of overtime), hobbies (training for jujitsu tournaments), and everything else, but I'm getting back to the grind of finishing the game. So why have I been radio silent? Firstly, I did burn out a bit on the game, and it was obviously of my own doing. In a rush to get the game out of the door, much of the code became of a very poor quality, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to both add new features and fix bugs.

Additionally, I was growing increasingly unsure about the "campaign" portion of the game. Everpixel Tactics was always supposed to have a heavy focus on combat in a zany, procedurally-generated world. So, I spent a good chunk of the last year almost completely rewriting the core code of the game (it's much better off for it!) in order to refocus. Additionally, I've been playing a few games here and there looking for nuggets of inspiration (Faster Than Light comes to mind.)

Time is a finite resource, and between work, hobbies (MMA, jujitsu), and the game...I decided to eschew writing these updates as it takes precious time from developing the game itself. Having spent a lot of time rewriting the game, I'm prepared to give a laundry list of updates. I expect the newest version of Everpixel Tactics to come out later this year, but I'd be doing everyone a disservice in trying to predict a specific date at this time.

Finally--importantly--I've reduced the price of Everpixel Tactics to $0.99. I'd make it free if I could, but taking a formerly paid-game to a free game on Steam appears to be more difficult than it's worth. Why do this? Because I want to apologize to the community for how long this game has been in development hell, and I want to make sure that everyone can enjoy the game - whenever it finally comes out.

• Heavier on the Roguelike: Inspired by games like Faster Than Light, Everpixel Tactics's campaigns have been drastically reduced with an emphasis on replayability - expect roughly 10 missions per campaign. Sometimes less is more.
  
• Renewed Focus on Combat: The new version will have a renewed focus on difficult, gritty combat. I am doing away with exploring the campaign map (see point about time being a finite resource above.)
  
• Perk Trees: Some of the perk trees have been merged, changed, or removed entirely. Sometimes less is more, and the previous perk system was overwhelming. There will still be hundreds of perks and dozens of perk trees, but I'm looking for ways to make building a zany mercenary company more accessible.
  
• From Squads to Parties: Have I mentioned that sometimes less is more? The combat in previous versions could take a very long time with so many characters. The new version will allow for only 6 party members to be taken into battle at once. Expect fewer characters in battle generally.
  
• Simplified Stats: Everpixel Tactics had too many stats before. This came from a good place - to make sure players had to think about how to build the mercenaries they were hiring. But in reality, it was just too complicated and esoteric. So, many stats have been simplified or even entirely removed.
  
• From Squads to Parties: When I started Everpixel Tactics, I didn't know what I was doing with respect to much of the "video game stuff" (I'm a full stack software engineer with zero video game experience.) I have learned a lot over the course of development, and I have rewritten large parts of the user interface in order to get pixel-perfect aspect ratios. Expect a crisper, clearer presentation in the next version.

Everpixel Tactics has always been envisioned as a dynamic, zany, living, breathing world. In order to make that happen, I'd planned on adding dynamic world histories, titans, and artifacts to the game by now. Unfortunately, I got caught working long, long hours in order to make a demo successful in my "real" job over the last month-and-a-half. I simply didn't have time to work on Everpixel Tactics while I worked towards said demo.


Prior to the demo, I'd been working simultaneously on an update that was going to add "Aquamancy" as a perk tree as well a dynamic world replete with a world history, titans, heroes, artifacts, and more. Since I've been radio silent for about a month now, I decided to at least get the aquamancy perk tree out as a small update for the players.

I've also reduced the price of the game to $4.99 for now. As I don't have time to advertise the game through "appropriate" means, I rely solely on Steam to advertise the game. I am probably going to play around with the price over the next few months to see what price "sticks" to get people in the door and playing the game.


With the Aquamancy update out the door, I really want to focus on making the world of Everpixel unique, dynamic, and seem alive. Towards that end, the next update will procedurally-generate world histories replete with titans, wars, and artifacts. When players begin their campaigns in the next update, they will be able to read through a list of major events that have shaped their world...and they will be able to partake in yet more.

I also want to finally add a lot more monsters in the game, all of whom may also happen to serve as the basis for titans in the game:

• Froglodons
  
• Dinosaurs
  
• Bouldaurs
  
• Water slimes
  
• Frost slimes
  
• Dodo birds
  
• Rats
  
• Shoggoths

After that, I plan on adding both Geomancy and Gaiamancy (nature magic) to the game. I have most of assets for both those schools of magic, and so I can readily add them. Geomancy will be a diverse school of magic that allows users to petrify enemies, destroy enemy armor, or make themselves nigh indestructible. Gaiamancers will have access to myriad healing over time spells, making them particularly powerful when paired with Aquamancers.

Beyond those schools of magic, however, I am going to piggyback off of the world history update to implement the game's "Quest" system. Players will be able to embark on quests that have direct implications in their world: they can recover long-lost artifacts, slay titans, and more.

Update 0.5.0 is out now! It includes the Aquamancy perk tree, a lot of changes regarding quality of life, and even a few balance tweaks.

• Aquamancy: Players can now specialize mercenaries in the aquamancy tree! It's a "supports's support" kind of magic tree.
  
• Aquamancer Gear: Players can now obtain aquamancer robes, hoods, and staves.
  
• Aquamancer Affixes: Several new affixes can be found on equipment that boost aquamancy skill and reduce aquamancy spell costs.
  
• Water Flora: New and exotic flora can be encountered in areas of high water magic.
  
• Water Regions: Regions of excessive water magic and rain can now be encountered in the world.
  
• Enemies: Players can now encounter "Hedge Aquamancers" in the world as well as "Ocean Knights."

• Armor Ignore: Weapons and abilities no longer gain bonuses to damage based on their armor penetration. Instead, they now ignore a certain portion of armor. This has the result of many attacks doing more damage against heavy armor and less against light armor than they did before. Damage has been scaled accordingly.
  
• Items: Gloves, boots, rings, and amulets should now be rarer (merchants will stock fewer of these items.)

• Bugs: AI will no longer soft lock in certain situations when surrounded.

• Aquamancy Mastery: (Passive) Aquamancy spells cost less fatigue. Additionally, adjacent allies recover more stamina each turn while adjacent enemies accrue fatigue.
  
• Bubble: Recover a significant portion of an ally's stamina.
  
• Drown: Cause a large amount of fatigue to an enemy, potentially making them accrue more fatigue than would otherwise be allowed.
  
• Lifewater: Increase the duration of all friendly effects on an ally. If those effects are healing over time effects, also increase the amount of healing done each turn.
  
• Mist: (Passive) Chance to increase the duration of buffs on adjacent allies and the debuffs on adjacent enemies when performing abilities.
  
• Soothe: Grant an ally an effect that lets them recover additional stamina each turn. Additionally, while soothed, beneficial effects on the character will not lose duration.
  
• Spray: (Passive) Chance for adjacent allies to recover stamina and for adjacent enemies to accrue fatigue when this character takes damage.
  
• Water Form: (Passive) Gain stacks of "Water Form" when performing abilities, granting innate damage resistance.

The next update is probably going to be huge. I'm hard at work on it: I'm now generating world histories, titans, and artifacts. But the next update will also include a much-needed, top-notch support perk tree: Aquamancy.



The next update will give players access to the Aquamancy tree, a slew of water-themed equipment, and a host of other, small, water-themed stuff. As has been mentioned, the next update will also include "titans" - powerful, god-like monsters who shape the very land around them. Don't be surprised if the next update showcases some titans who can sling water magic. But more on that in upcoming devlogs...

For now, let's discuss the Aquamancy tree. Ultimately, there will be almost 20 magic trees in Everpixel Tactics, and it has always been a goal that every one of them is not only thematically-different, but functionally different. Aquamancy's niche will very much be a support niche. So much so, in fact, that it can even be thought of as a "support's support" kind of tree. It focuses on healing the stamina of allies and increasing the capabilities of buffs present on allies. Aquamancers will be especially potent when paired with other mages who specialize in buffing allies (like Chronomancers) or healing allies over time (like Gaiamancers.)

As usual, though, the Aquamancy tree throws in a few curveballs to ensure that even melee-oriented characters have something to gain from investing in the Aquamancy tree. Without further ado, let's take a look at the perks of the upcoming Aquamancy tree...

• Aquamancy Mastery: (Passive) Aquamancy spells cost less fatigue. Additionally, adjacent allies recover more stamina each turn while adjacent enemies accrue fatigue.
  
• Bubble: Recover a significant portion of an ally's stamina.
  
• Drown: Cause a large amount of fatigue to an enemy, potentially making them accrue more fatigue than would otherwise be allowed.
  
• Lifewater: Increase the duration of all friendly effects on an ally. If those effects are healing over time effects, also increase the amount of healing done each turn.
  
• Mist: (Passive) Chance to increase the duration of buffs on adjacent allies and the debuffs on adjacent enemies when performing abilities.
  
• Soothe: Grant an ally an effect that lets them recover additional stamina each turn. Additionally, while soothed, beneficial effects on the character will not lose duration.
  
• Spray: (Passive) Chance for adjacent allies to recover stamina and for adjacent enemies to accrue fatigue when this character takes damage.
  
• Water Form: (Passive) Gain stacks of "Water Form" when performing abilities, granting innate damage resistance.