Alpha Testing Notes
5.1.5
Build 8
Notes posted
What’s New Since Build 7
Tester changelog since Build 7. The Heart of the Forest is no longer a promise on a shelf—it is a complete adventure, ready to see through to its final clearing.
Highlights
- The Heart of the Forest is complete: ten locations of conversations, puzzles, optional discoveries, new creatures, bosses, and a full path from Town to adventure’s end.
- Meet Juniper and claim the Heartstring: recruit a forest gnome druid, uncover persistent conversations, and recover an artifact made for a spellcaster.
- Every creature has a story in the fight: Gloam Grifflets take to the air, Owlbears protect their family, and ward creatures bring distinct attacks and abilities.
- More control at the Blacksmith and in challenges: swap hero-owned weapon attunements freely, refund a fresh purchase during the same visit, and see exactly who is acting in a challenge.
- Polish along both roads: clearer combat feedback, new illustrations and props, adventure-specific portrait frames, and campaign and shelf refinements.
The Heart of the Forest
- The Heart of the Forest is now a complete ten-location adventure with conversations, puzzles, optional discoveries, new creatures, and bosses.
- Complete The Forsaken Woods to unlock it. Basic difficulty is balanced for a party around level 3.
- Meet Juniper, a forest gnome druid, and recover the Heartstring Bracelet. Prodigus’s final first-conversation exchange now shows the reward’s name and icon; the artifact is granted when the adventure is completed.
Creatures and Combat
- Gloam Grifflets now alternate between flight and grounded combat, with improved foot placement.
- Owlbear family behavior includes healing hugs, an enraged mother, and a fleeing cub. Sparing the cub grants 20% bonus encounter XP.
- Ward creatures, the Index Warden, and Thul now have distinct attacks and abilities. Blackwood Cleave strikes on rounds 1, 4, and 7, and can leave surviving affected heroes Sapped.
- Freezing Thul skips a scheduled turn. Combat messages are clearer, and Watchtower figures have received a size and ground-contact pass.
Challenges and Conversations
- Challenges now identify the hero taking the action. Shielding coffers requires an active living fighter.
- Turning Ward results clearly separate the answer bonus or penalty from the skill-roll outcome.
- New explicit Talk and Confront interactions, persistent Juniper dialogue, new illustrations, and adventure props make the forest easier to read and inhabit.
Equipment and Rewards
- Weapon attunements belong to individual heroes and can be swapped freely.
- New weapon purchases can be refunded during the same Blacksmith visit.
- When equipped by a living caster, Heartstring restores one missing MP at the start of battle.
Campaigns and Presentation
- Both adventures retain their own expedition progress while Company heroes, gear, attire, gold, and ownership remain shared.
- Adventure-specific portrait frames, shelf polish, and campaign refinements help each journey feel distinct without losing the Company’s history.
- No campaign reset is required. Existing heroes, gear, attire, gold, saves, and settings carry forward.
Suggested Device Smoke Pass
- Load an existing Company and verify heroes, gear, attire, gold, saves, and settings survived the update.
- Play Heart from its entrance through completion. Check conversations, challenge results, flight and ground contact, Owlbears, Thul, Prodigus’s first and repeat exchange, Juniper recruitment, and artifact equipping.
- Switch between both adventures, return to Town, save and load, then resume after backgrounding. Confirm separate expedition progress and shared Company ownership.
- Check landscape safe areas, text readability, touch targets, audio, and combat feedback. When reporting an issue, include device model, adventure or location, difficulty, and whether it survives reload.
Editor automation includes simulated controller and touch coverage. Physical iPhone and controller acceptance remain separate.