ToS Devlog 2 Post

Torch of Shadows DevLog #2 – The Balance Update ✨⚫

TL;DR

Combat feels snappier, enemies are smarter (and fairer), Light/Dark swapping and cooldown behavior are fixed, controller support is in, elite mutations multiplied, the tutorial is clearer, UI/UX got a glow-up, and audio/visual polish landed. Surprise: POWER-UPS! (magnet/health/poison trail) and new drops are live! 💫

⚔️ Combat Flow & Balance

  • Enemy floods under control: There’s now a cap on the number of enemies on screen; reduces clumping, corner cheesing, and that “meat grinder in the middle” effect.
  • Speed & vitality tuning: Normal/Tank/Elite speeds increased; unnecessary tankiness reduced.
  • Gentler scaling: Per level and per unlock decreased. Fairer early game, challenge preserved later.
  • Boss at minute 15 & 30: When a boss spawns, the field clears; “stutter” during boss arrival has been removed. This made players think the game is stuttering. That is why we want to remove it.
  • Opposition multiplier toned down: Over-rewarding same-form kills is no longer a viable loophole.
  • Anti-cheese behaviors: Updated wall/area pressure and pursuit logic to make endless kiting harder.

👹 Smarter Enemies & New Elite Mutations

  • Added Mortar, Lightning Strike, Corruption/Radiant Trail, Hellfire Barrage, Ward Totems, Waller, Lifebond — each with an in-game info card.
  • Lifebond stability improved (proximity/chain prioritization reworked).
  • Special spawn indicator added; out-of-bounds spawns blocked.
  • Exploders now truly explode (sorry, not sorry 😊).
  • Fast enemies won’t get one-tapped as easily.
  • All attacks and their icons reworked.
  • Knives now home to the first target; fixed “stuck inside enemy” and ricochet “touring the map” issues. If no target, they fly straight and despawn.

🗡️ Abilities & Attacks – Rework Pack

  • Triangle redesigned; accuracy and usefulness up.
  • Dark Ground ↔️ Holy Sword pairing: area/duration balanced to match.
  • Sphere: Split/explode bugs fixed; added on-orb indicator for detonation; form-swap now keeps owner correctly.
  • Aura lifesteal one-off bug solved.
  • Cooldown vs. Attack Speed separated cleanly; fixed the “feels like 2× faster” and “max cooldown halves itself” bugs.
  • AoE pre-hit indicators added for readability.
  • Fixed auto-attack lockups during Light/Dark swaps.

🎮 Controls & QoL

  • Full gamepad integration.
  • Light/Dark toggle and key remapping added.
  • On level-up, keyboard/gamepad selection works; ESC exits consistently.
  • When the game pauses, cooldowns pause too — now they actually do.
  • Potion hotkey shown in the UI with a small reminder; flask counter (used/remaining) on screen.

🎓 Tutorial & Flow

  • Tile painting examples corrected (kill Light on Dark ground with Light attack, and vice versa).
  • Sun/Moon drops diversified; teaching Sun collectible explicitly.
  • Region select UI clickability fixed after tutorial.
  • Prologue has new music and shows once on your first run (then it’s tucked away). New video is on the way.

🖥️ UI/UX – Fresh Coat of Paint

  • All-UI rework: disclaimer, pause, glory, and fail screens redesigned.
  • Reel: Only upgrades in the pool are shown; the chosen one arrives last and snaps elegantly into its slot.
  • Cooldown bar behavior: “Drop fast, fill slow” for better readability.
  • Health bar is longer/more rectangular; when you gain max HP, there’s a bar stretch effect.
  • Map tile possess ratio centered; tile click bugs fixed.
  • Short introduction scene when entering a region.
  • “Center of the Universe” now has a pulsing effect.

🔊 Audio & FX

  • Attack SFX added; Light vs. Dark energy pickup sounds are now tonally distinct.
  • EXP sound spam limited (when collecting 10+ at once, it consolidates).
  • Heal text is smaller and fades faster; optionally replaced with a green flash to say “you’re healed.”
  • Ground-painting particles feel more “spray” and read better.
  • Blue edges on intro letters cleaned up.

🎁 Power-Ups & Drop Economy

  • Magnet, Health Drop, Poison Trail are in!
  • Drop chances by enemy type tuned (different rates for Normal /Fast /Tank /Elite /Boss).
  • Bosses have a high chance to drop power-ups.
  • Magnet pickup bug fixed.
  • Enemy introductions now save to your file (collection progress persists).

🧰 Performance & Bug Hunt

  • Fixed the take_damage overlap, max cooldown halving, knife stuck, ESC scattering knives, region UI half-dead, sphere/hitbox/pathing, and more.
  • Performance gains via escort search optimization.
  • Out-of-map spawns disabled; enemy-enemy collision improved.
  • Skill roll screen glitches cleaned up.

🔢 By the Numbers

Spawn tempo (summary):

Normal: 1/sec → 2 every 5s; 1 every 30s; 3 every 45s.

Fast: 4 every 15s → 3 every 25s.

Elite: 1 every 150s, available from minute 3 (was minute 10).

HP scaling: Per level −50%, per unlock −50%.

Cooldown tweaks: Dark Axe / Dark Ground / Holy Sword CD↑; Light/Dark Knives CD↓.

Ricochet: Range limited; if no target, goes straight and despawns.

📌 What’s Next?

  • The new prologue video,
  • more enemy roles (shield-givers, pesky bead-throwers),
  • mini-events,
  • and QTE-style surprises.

We’ll keep iterating balance with your feedback. Tell us what you think

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