Necken 1.0 is finally here, and with that, Necken is leaving Early Access.

I also wanted to cut the price, so I lowered it by 50%!

Cheers,
Joccish

This version has been a bless to work with. Reworked the balance if items, enemies, difficulties etc. The items have been adjusted to work properly with the new combat mechanic introduced a while ago (enemies having dynamic defence instead of static). Some tiles have been rebalanced as well, and overall the flow feels a bit better.


- Added 12 new achievements
- Craft screen does not close when crafting Key, Bronze, Coal and Steel (finally)
- Lowered the wait time for popup to appear 1s -> 0.65s

Minor changes
- Replaced Carolean Soldier with Path Troll
- Added a slowmo effect when final boss is defeated
- Added some audio effects
- Carolean Tower renamed into Tower
- Drowned sprite position slightly adjusted
- Tweaked equipment swap popup
- Changed area map menu music to instrumental
- Tweaked some popups
- Renamed repair craft recipes
- Enemy Mushroom buff effect not as big

- Reworked balance on all items
- Lowered difficulty in Normal slightly
- Lowered Moose base health 20 -> 15
- Lowered Bear base health 20 -> 15
- Lowered Tower base health 20 -> 15
- Lowered Gnome Hut base health 20 -> 15
- Increased Rock Breaker charges 3-10 -> 6-15
- Copper Pickaxe health increased 20 -> 25
- Bronze Pickaxe health increased 20 -> 30
- Enemy Mushroom Buff health increase lowered 25% -> 20%
- Increased mushroom spawn in Hard difficulty

- Red Gnome no longer fires arrow when player is in combat
- Tower no longer fires arrow when player is in combat

This version has been uploaded to the development branch in different stages, but is now finally ready for an official release!


- Added Hard difficulty
- Added Necken hard mode boss.
- Added new hard mode endings.
- Added Save Suppression. Players can't save/load freely, but save temporarily for a break, and load (and "consume") the save once.
- Player can craft a fireplace ("Rest") that triggers saving when exiting the level
- Crafting menu now shows current trinket info
- Character screen now tracks your completions

- Enemies spawn less frequently in Forest Fir South
- Added Stone Spear to crafting menu
- Removed Sharp Stone from crafting menu
- Area 3, Western Green Brook levels 3 > 2
- Area 4, Eastern Green Brook levels 3 > 2
- Area 5, Lower Shoulder Woods levels 3 > 2
- Area 6, Upper Shoulder Woods levels 3 > 2

- Minor fixes in menu background

With this update I have almost completed everything regarding the hard mode and the end boss fight as well. Its an addition to the previous features for the 0.17.0-version, and is available for "beta" in the development branch right now, and for the default game after a bit more testing!

Thanks for playing Necken!

Cheers,
Jocce

The next version of Necken will include a feature requested multiple times: A save system!

While the 0.17.0 version is not completed just yet, there's an updated version in the [Development] branch available, if you wish to try out the new save system right away!

It should be working fully, and I'm releasing it early since I haven't found any bugs with the new system.
So, if you're interested in testing the new save system before everyone else, make sure to switch to the [Development] branch in Properties > Betas.

More info about switching branches in the FAQ post in the forum.

Cheers,
Joccish

- Reworked Bjorns skill Careful Feint to work with new combat system
- Reworked Bjorns skill Quick Feint to work with new combat system
- Reworked Bjorns skill Calculated Feint to work with new combat system
- Updated the equipment popup a bit

- Bjorns skills no longer work on bosses

- Fixed screen resolution options not getting the current resolution sometimes
- Fixed locked character icons not showing its background when selected
- Fixed item info showing during combat if attacked on a chest tile
- Fixed typo in Bjorn's Calculated Feint skill name
- Fixed skill bar not flashing when selected
- Fixed resource icons using wrong animation

In the next update, in addition to a few minor bug fixes, I'll address two things that are in need of some love: Bjorn has lost his skills and gotten Saras skills temporarily due to the combat rework.

His skill Feint affected the old resistance system, where resistances were set in stone per enemy type. This meant that all Boars had the same resistances, and Bjorn was able to manipulate them during combat. With the rework those resistances were removed and replaced by defence points.

The new Feint skill will manipulate those defence points instead. I have them designed on paper, and will begin working on them now.

The other is one of my arch enemies - the chest equipment popup (known as the Swap Popup)As you can see, players are able to click multiple times, and more than once lets players have said something like "wow, look how much items are in the chest" and later realised "oh, it was just swapping back and forth between two items".

I've reworked this popup so many times, and it never turns out well.. This time I'll spend some additional time making it more intuitive and easier to grasp. Hopefully this will remove this issue completely.


Cheers,
Jocce

This update improves the combat system further, making it even more clear and obvious what is happening during the combat sequence. Also made it more clear when enemies have been buffed by a mushroom.

- Combat sequence updated further
- Attack selection improved (selection can now loop around properly)
- Updated repair icons
- Added a crown to buffed enemies (buffed by mushroom)

- Fixed UI issues hiding images when selecting character/trinket


- The version without the combat rework (0.15.0b4) is still available in the development branch if you wish to play that one instead!
- [TEMP FIX] Bjorn still shares skills with Sara, since they became obsolete when the combat system was reworked

After a short break spending time with a second game, I'm back to improve Necken even more! Now I feel refreshed and have a lot of new ideas that I wish to try out to make the game better. First up was reworking the combat a bit, adding more depth to what the system is capable of. This is the first version of the new combat system.

- Reworked enemy resistance system. Enemies now have defence markers that move around each turn
- Reworked combat sequence, so effects are in a sequence instead of at the same time
- Added help section to menu

- Upgraded Unity engine (yey?)
- Enemies jump slightly each new round, for no reason at all
- Cleaned up first time welcome screen

- Player does not take damage when enemy is killed during the turn
- [TEMP FIX] Bjorn now shares skills with Sara temporarily, since they became obsolete when the combat system was reworked
- Enemy difficulty might be a bit off in this version

- Fixed a lot of bugs caused by the engine upgrade. No need for you to hear me while about them all. But there was many of them..

- Due to the Unity upgrade, there might be sleeper bugs waiting for you to find them

- The previous version (0.15.0b4) is available in the development branch if you wish to play that one instead!