- Castle of the Underdogs released from Early Access! - 14 April 2023
First of all, thanks a lot to everyone who supported and helped me throughout the game's Early Access! The final version of Castle of the Underdogs Ep1 is finally here. Early Access has been a long but fulfilling journey, during which I added most of the features I wanted for the first episode (especially during the first few months of EA). The late EA section was devoted mostly to bring heavyweight features like the Japanese translation, and the low powered GPU renderer, which have helped me releasing on Switch. There are a few bugs that I still need to iron out. Most of them have already been fixed, but I didn't want to risk doing a patch so soon before the game's release without proper testing. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I've enjoyed making it, and thanks again to everybody for your continued support.
- Japanese language added - 8 April 2023
I'm happy to share with you that I have added the Japanese language to my game. As someone who has dreamed of creating a JRPG since childhood, this is a significant milestone for me and a tribute to the country that pioneered this beloved genre. This build is also the release candidate, which brings the Switch and Steam versions to par with each other one week before the launch. Game will be released on both platforms on April 14th.
- Added support for low-end GPUs - 5 November 2022
After too many months working behind the courtains to port the game to other platforms, I'm 'backporting' the low-end GPU rendering mode to PC. You can choose between the classic and the low-end mode in the graphics options menu. This makes the game playable with decent framerates even on intel GPUs. Several bugs have also been fixed in the process.
- Small debug patch - 14 January 2022
No meaningful changes made, just added debug code to improve my chances to find a crash I've been searching for a while.
- Patch #16 : Release candidate... probably. - 24 December 2021
This it the first version with all the projected features implemented and a release candidate for the full release. In this update: Added the last achievements, including the Very hard + no flee one. This is a quite tough achievement for people who really like challenges. Now when you're using a Phoenix Hair, the timebar updates so that you know when the revived character's next turn will be. Fixed the poison damage amount, which was incorrectly calculated when waiting. Several memory optimizations and hiccup reduction. A few world map features wouldn't show a message in order for the player to know they could enter a new map by pressing the action button. Now they have it. Fixed a few bugs related to cutscene skipping. Sometimes some characters would get in the middle of the camera when doing an unite. Fixed. Sometimes some characters would get in the middle of the camera when watching…
- New Game Plus added. - 18 December 2021
New Game Plus added You can optionally start a new game plus after finishing the game once. You're required to load the completed game file (it has a yellow star on the savegame). The enemy book data info is loaded from this completion file, however you have to meet the enemy once in order to access its data. You can skip most cutscenes holding Square / X button / "Q" key during 1 second. Escape talisman is available (as Special Offers) in a few shops. Note: some tutorials are not shown in New Game Plus. More achievements added The newest character was not appearing in the castle when recruited. Improvements+fixes on several menus, specially on user input feedback. Study Enemy no longer works if you're blinded (either with or without science) Fixed sound effects of a minigame that were not working.
- New recruit + First batch of Achievements available. - 11 December 2021
After a break to take a rest and do some side jobs, I'm ready for the final stretch to get out of Early Access! A wild Nigel has appeared, which is new recruitable character (this is supposed to be the last recruitable character added to Episode 1). The first batch of achievements have been added and tested. More to come in the upcoming weeks. The usual bugs and fixes (hopefully more fixes than bugs ;) )
- New scary boss added - 27 October 2021
* New boss added in the Underground Tunnel. * More performance improvements and fixes.
- Update notes 15 Oct 2021 - 15 October 2021
Maintenance update, mostly devoted to fix small bugs and improve performance. Several files are now preloaded and cached, reducing hiccups a lot. Changed compression method to reduce loading times. More teleport points added for teleport talisman. No more dupped spells in the magic casting menu.
- New recruitable + Special costume + Teleport Talisman - 9 October 2021
Emi is now recruitable. Hikaru has now a special costume that changes her appearance when wearing the "Red Set". Teleport talisman is on sale in the shop of the final dungeon (similar to Suikoden's Escape Talisman, but you can choose several teleport points in the dungeon) Each character speech sound now has a different pitch (can be disabled via options). Hikaru can now learn earth and poison when casting them via corb (random chance). Relaxed requirements to learn the Electro spell. More bugs related to "exit to title" fixed. This update has taken longer than usual because of several internal changes and the requirement to test very well some of those changes. On top of that, I had to endure a HDD crash ;)
- New fighter available! - 25 September 2021
21 September 2021 update highlights: A new recruitable character that can fight in battles has been added. He's the first greatsword user and comes with a set of exclusive gloves. Myke and Lila's initial weapons are now LVL 3 instead of 4 (that was due to an old bug recently fixed). However their ATK remains the same, so there's no real change in their physical damage output. (fixed)Hints text sometimes had words enclosed by {}. (fixed)Weapons were being displayed in the battle retry menu. (fixed)The corb slot level unlock was not working correctly.
- Update Notes 18 Sep 2021 - 18 September 2021
Now you have the same MP and same initial turn order when retrying a battle. Some prize locations have been changed to improve playability (Unlock Lev.2 has been moved to a way easier place now) Several small changes and bugfixes : Entering menu while walking instantly moved the selected menu item. Stray sound being played when characters were talking fixed. Some doors did not make the correct sound. Minigame score calculation fixed. retry+autosave bug fixed Message added to a minigame host to make obvious that prizes are given. FastNoise license was missing. Some exits have been made easier to use. Slightly toned down some enemies on Normal difficulty mode.
- Update notes for 11 Sept 2021 - 11 September 2021
* You can now Retry a battle if you lose it. * You can lower difficulty for the length of that retried battle only. * You can also reconfigure your formation and equipment before the battle retry. * The (c)orb menus now display help making it easier to understand how you're setting up your characters. * Gameplay adjustments and several extra cutscenes added. * (fixed) Information messages stopped displaying when dying in a battle and then reloading.
- Update Notes 04 Sept 2021 - 4 September 2021
* Hint system added. Hold the left shoulder or keyboard key '1' (can be redefined) to bring up a help message about the Main Quest. Hints are as spoilerless as possible. * Items can now be sorted in the items menu. * Improved some tutorials and fixed some cutscenes. * Equipment sort by stat fixed.
- Update Notes 31 Aug 2021 - 31 August 2021
Bugfixes and technical changes: * Several fixes and improvements in the final dungeon. * Some fixes and features added to a minigame. * A set of wild butterflies had escaped from the map and have been returned to their rightful place. Gameplay changes: * You can rest and buy items at Tanne's house now. * Some item prices have been adjusted. * A few new scenes added to clarify some backstories.
- Update Notes for 27 Aug 2021 - 27 August 2021
Bugfixes and technical changes: * Keyboard can now be redefined in the main screen, some default keybindings have been changed. * Keyboard settings weren't correctly saved (fixed). * Thumbstick rebound fix. * Improved memory usage. Gameplay changes: * Chests have now different colors depending on the chest level. * Equipment sets now gives you extra bonuses when worn. * Changed some debris location to make passage easier in some maps. * Escape bomb added, it allows you to quickly escape from enemies. Available in most stores in your area. * Eyedrops didn't work correctly. (fixed)
- Update Notes for 22 Aug 2021 - 22 August 2021
Game fixes: * Huge bug fixed which caused more havok than Hikaru in a mirror shop when leaving to the main menu and reloading a game. * Mouse camera movement improved on low framerate. * UI on resolutions higher than 1080p is no longer small and confined to the center of the screen * Some bugs fixed on widescreen resolutions. * Menu characters are now displayed in native resolution. Gameplay changes: * You no longer lose money when you flee. * Two recruitable characters now have their own model instead of having a generic one.
- Update notes, 20 Aug 2021 - 20 August 2021
* Fixed a freeze with a dialog when playing with low framerate.
- Update notes, 18 Aug 2021 - 18 August 2021
* Fixed potential crash in a certain battle and several bugs in that same battle. * Made the control configuration clearer. * Several improvements to make the game more fluid. * Fixed bug which prevented some players to start the game (missing Steamworks dependency).
- First round of bug fixes - 16 August 2021
* Fixed a bug that didn't let you see correctly the mana you had in battle. * Fixed some bugs in resolutions larger than 1080p. Menus will still look small, but I hope to address that problem in a next update. * Adjusted some sfx audio levels. * Fixed some typos. * Horizontal and vertical camera speeds can now be configured separately * Increased gamepad dead zone. * Fixed a crash when checking the enemy data while in battle.
