A new month, and lots of things to talk about in this update!
First of all, we've been hearing your feedback about the updated GUI, especially regarding the looks and feel it has, and we've been working on improving. Our artist did an amazing job on them, and I believe it fits the style and look of the game completely. Here are the new inventory, character and crafting screens:
Also, we took this opportunity to improve a few things regarding the crafting system. Here is how it works: You start by selecting a schematic from the list, once selected a partially transparent preview of the item shows in the slot with its base stats underneath. Next you select the material you want to forge the item with. The material types which don't have enough ingots will be faded and unable to be selected. Then, once you select a material, the preview will be updated and the stats adjusted to the type of metal you chose. Next you can select up to two techniques. One is unlocked at the start, the ability to add a second one comes at crafting level 50. To select them, click on the slots, and a list with all the known techniques that can be applied and their effect appears. The effect is dependent on your crafting skill, of course. When everything is final you click on the forge button to craft your weapon or armor. At this point the weapon/armor becomes fully opaque. So when you are finished you then manually drag the weapon/armor into your inventory (or it gets added automatically when you exit the screen). The forge button also doubles as the melt button when an item is placed in the slot. The forge button will display "melt" which you can then melt an item and receive its base material.
So, the system is very similar to what we had, with the only difference that the number of techniques that can applied to the items is limited. Also, you can't "upgrade" a weapon/armor. What you can do is melt it, and forge a new one with the techniques you want. Now, you may notice that we mention "schematics". Basically, they are the schematics of the different base items we have, that allow you to create a particular item. You can buy them at a shop, but don't get added to your inventory list (to avoid clutter). You buy them, and you get the "knowledge" of it, getting added to a schematics tab in the journal screen. The same goes for the techniques, they don't get added to your inventory but instead you gain knowledge of them.
Apart from this, we finished optimizing the character models and improving their looks, but weren't able to get it inside the game for this update. We also implemented the new critical hits system, expanded the dialogues with many NPCs, and of course, general bugfixing and polish.
On some other news, we created a new official ITS YouTube account, which will hold our videos from now. So head over there and subscribe to it right away! The old one won't be used anymore for hosting AoD videos (it was my personal account).
http://www.youtube.com/user/IronTowerStudio
Also, don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for instant updates on the game progress!
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