A thief or assassin comes to mind.

Just uploaded a hot fix to fix a bug that happened at the 2nd floor of Halls of Onkalo.
The next update will probably be delayed until the end of this month as I've been having a quite nasty and persistent flu since Sunday. Hopefully I will get back to work at Monday, if not sooner.

First proper update for this year brings new character class Witch Hunter and re-designed Witch!

https://witchgrove-games.itch.io/chronicles-of-vaeltaja/devlog/665527/chronicles-of-vaeltaja-v063-update-witches-and-hunters

And finally a first proper sale at itch.io:

https://itch.io/s/115418/witches-and-hunters-update-sale

I added some new screenshots to the game's itch.io page to showcase some UI changes that are coming in the next update. Inventory will be more visual, there's a 'quick bar' for tools such as lanterns, hour glass and camping gear and enhanced minimap frame.

https://witchgrove-games.itch.io/chronicles-of-vaeltaja

There's a new update coming in the next ten days. It finally brings something I've wanted to add since the beginning: Combat rows for the player's party. Now it is easier to protect caster characters by placing them in the back row.

Characters 4, 5 and 6 are assigned to back row in the beginning of each battle. If front row characters die, back row characters replace them in the front row. The back row order is that the character 4 is behind character 1, 5 is behind 2 and 6 is behind 3. If fallen front row character is revived, the back row character that replaced him returns to back row.

This will mean that enemies' melee attacks (except some special skills) won't reach the back row and characters in the back row can't use melee weapons.

NEW STUFF:
- Visual inventory (with own category for keys, so they don't mix up with quest items)
- Icons for all items, equipment AND status effects
- 'Quick Bar' for tools, such as torches, lanterns, camping gear and hour glass (Wizard's Tower update will introduce a new tool in the near future)
- Row System for combat, which slightly changes combat mechanics with ranged and melee damage
- New Character Class: Conjurer. Like Mages and Priests, Conjurer has also it's own sub-classes: Summoner and Necromancer
- New enemy Bandit Archer
- Faster mouse plugin
- Performance improvements

Just one little nitpick: The word "its" should not have an apostrophe. In fact, I'd change the word order slightly: "Conjurer also has its own sub-classes:".

(Quirk of English: Nouns use apostrophes to indicate possession; pronouns, as far as I can tell, never do.)

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind from now on!

Chronicles of Vaeltaja's next update is just around the corner, so it's finally time to reveal some details. This update brings the second last character class, some changes to certain gameplay mechanics and UI changes.

The update will be released on Thursday 8th of February.

Let's start with the visual and UI stuff.

Visual Inventor, Quickbar, Item and Equipment Icons

Inventory is now more visual with new icons for each type of items and equipment. This makes it easier to spot the needed items from the inventory and gives a nicer look to the whole item management overall. Shops will still list their inventories like before, but now icons appear before the items name.

But there is another new improvement that is affected by icons: A Quickbar! Finally you can see the tools that you have equipped at the bottom of the gameplay screen. Quickbar can be used for torches, lanterns, camping gear, hour glass, and there is at least one new tool coming in the near future, but more about that at later date.

There are some other visual improvements: new minimap frame, new torchlight animation and some adjustment to torch and lantern lighting.

Combat Rows, Status Icons, New enemies and Damage Types

Combat Rows bring another big change to the table and give some tactical depth against enemies. In the beginning of the battle characters 4-6 are assigned to second row. If character in the front row falls in the battle, a character from the second row moves to front row until the fallen party member is revived. Row order: character 3 is behind character 1, 4 is behind 2 and 6 is behind 3. There will be small icons showing the row of each character.

With Combat Rows come two new damage types: melee and ranged. Characters in the back row are safe from most melee attacks, but there are some enemy special melee attacks that may still harm them. On the other hand, backrow characters are more vulnerable to ranged damage. Also flying enemies, such as leechers, can attack second row, though not as effectively as when they are attacking the first row.

To keep things interesting, this update will add two new enemy types: Bandit Archer and Outlaw Marksman. This changes some enemy mobs in several areas. Archer is equipped with a bow and Marksman uses a crossbow. Both have their own idle and attack animations.

Whip is the only melee weapon that can be used from the back row, so Witch Hunter is the only character class that is effective from both rows.

Status effects get their own individual icons too, making it easier to recognize them.

Optional Instant Movement

The second last addition is a little more experimental, as it brings optional Instant Movement mechanic. This means that the gameplay can be changed to remind old genre classics, such as Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and the first Lands of Lore. Instant Movement can be turned on in the options menu and unfortunately it works a little bit wonkier than other options: It has to be activated each time starting the game and it also needs to be activated with 'space' or controller's button, same goes with deactivating. I will try to find a fix for those issues as soon as possible.

Character Class: Conjurer

Finally the second last character class is coming to Chronicles of Vaeltaja: Conjurer!

Like Mages and Priests, Conjurer has its own two sub-classes: Summoner and Necromancer. This means more variety in character builds as you can hire two of them. Conjurer works quite differently than other classes, as it can summon either enemies or undead to aid in the battle. These summoned creatures, such as nikarus, leechers, skeletons and zombies, will replace the Conjurer for a few turns and they will attack automatically using their basic attacks and skills. By improving Conjurer's stats, the summons will grow stronger too. But beware: Conjurer's life is bound to those summoned creatures.

There will also be some bug fixes, balancing, performance improvements and other tweaks to improve the gameplay experience. For example after this update there's no more need to push 'forward' after turning towards npcs, doors and levers before activating them.

I hope these changes, additions and improvements will make Chronicles of Vaeltaja even deeper and more enjoyable experience to old and new players.

Update available.

Patch notes: https://witchgrove-games.itch.io/chronicles-of-vaeltaja/devlog/678603/conjurers-and-catacombs-update-v0641

Voted on the wishlist.

Let's see if the people of GOG start bringing us games like this instead of so many hentai visual novels

Thanks! Let's hope so!

I made and released the first official gameplay trailer for Chronicles of Vaeltaja. For some reason Youtube's processing decreased the quality of the first 15 seconds, but otherwise I'm quite happy with the result as this was first trailer I've ever done and I just learned to edit videos couple of days ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP_NkL5xcVo

The game has improved a lot since I released it last October and the next update will add even more content, depth and improvements.

Already in the game:

- 10 character classes: Guide, Warrior, Hunter, Mage, Shadow, Priest, Witch, Knight, Witch Hunter and Conjurer.
- Secondary classes for Mage (Warlock/Wizard), Priest (Healer/Saint) and Conjurer (Summoner/Necromancer).
- Combat rows for player's party.
- Several overworld areas full of exploration: Twin Falls (Castle Town, Castle Field, Riverside Northern & Southern parts, Forest Northern & Southern parts, Beach, Witch Grove), Great Forest (Northern & Southern parts), Pramea (Town, Shore, Jungle, Smuggler's Cove), Marsh of the Condemned, Lake Road.
- 10 dungeons (some of them are optional).
- Over 20 enemy types and few boss enemies.
- Treasure digging & ore mining
- Multiple main and side quests
- Lots of secrets, puzzles and floor traps
- Eight weapon types (daggers, swords, axes, maces, whips, staves, bows, crossbows)
- Four armor types (light, medium, heavy, robes)
- Other equipment such as rings, necklaces, cloaks and gloves
- Tools such as torches and four different types of lanterns, hourglass and more will be added in the coming updates
- 'Quickbar' for tools.
- Day/Night cycle.
- Optional 'Instant Movement'.

And everything is hand-crafted, so there's no procedural generation used to create the game world.

I released an update which brought graphical enhancements to almost every building interior in the game and some other improvements.

Patch notes at Itch.io: https://witchgrove-games.itch.io/chronicles-of-vaeltaja/devlog/699995/chronicles-of-vaeltaja-interior-overhaul-update-v069

Now that Wizard's Tower and Interior Overhaul updates are released, I want to share some light on what's coming with the next updates I've been planning.

- There are some 'quality of life' features that I've been asked and most popular has been the quest journal. At the moment I'm looking into it and trying to figure out how much work it takes to implement it. So it is definitely coming, though I can't promise it will come with the next update, but it's high on my priority list and I've already done some groundwork for it.

- Lake Road is not fully finished yet, so it will also get more content in the coming updates.

- I'm also already working on the next main story dungeon, but it's still work in progress.

- Crafting. Those who have already solved the situation in Pramea may have noticed that Blacksmith opens his workshop in Northern Riverside and is willing to forge weapons if ore is provided. I'm not entirely happy about how it is implemented, so I'm thinking about bringing some slight changes to it to make it better.

- More Eye of an Oracle secrets. I've already planned some secret areas and other stuff all around the gameworld that will utilize the Eye of an Oracle to give more depth to exploration. I will bring these also in the coming updates.

- The last character class. I've been designing the last character class for some time now and it's proven to be quite challenging, so it might take more time than I thought it would. The last character class will be 'Shapeshifter'.

These are the things I'm currently working on and these next couple of weeks will show me what the next couple of updates will include. The next update should come on April and I will give more details in the coming weeks.