4.1 Update Announcement
Here at Turning Wheel LLC we’re committed to delivering several major updates to Barony over the coming months, adding both features and content to make your next dungeon run more fun and exciting than ever. Each update will primarily focused on delivering work we promised in our Kickstarter’s bonus goals, stretch goals, and backer rewards. (And, because we just can’t help ourselves, it’ll also include stuff we just personally think is cool)
We’re excited to share our plans! Read on for details about the first major update we currently have in the works.
Our first major update to version 4.1 is coming this Halloween season and it’s called the Life After Death update!
Our most recent update was called Quality of Death, so like … this is the one after that. Pretty good, right? But that’s not the only reason we called it that.
Ghosts
A Kickstarter bonus goal!
Whether in single-player or co-op, death is a normal part of playing Barony. While in single-player, you may begin another run right away, if you’re a member of a party, you may find yourself waiting around a while for your friends to finish the level.
Even the most patient among us may be bored simply spectating. So we’re adding life after death … Co-Op Ghosts!
After you die in a multiplayer game and you’re viewing your gravestone, you’ll have the option to spawn immediately as a Ghost! Ghosts don’t fight in the normal sense, but that’s not to say they can’t have a meaningful impact for the team!
While haunting your party, ghosts can wander freely and use a few key abilities to offer utility in exploration and even some combat strategy. With the new Co-Op Callouts feature, Ghosts are also empowered to communicate important details to surviving team members.
Callouts
Another Kickstarter bonus goal!
Teamwork in Barony looks different in every party. Maybe you’re a tightly-knit squad who faces challenges together. Or perhaps you’re elite agents who divide and conquer each floor. Alternatively, you might be a counterproductive band of trolling idiots.
Whatever the case, a little contextual communication can go a long way for any Barony party. Whether you’re on a mouse & keyboard, or a gamepad, our new co-op callouts system puts context sensitive commands at your fingertips. With just a couple of clicks, you can provide very specific messages that empower more team interactions.
To name a few:
Let the party know that you’re hungry or starving to death!
Point out that a certain item might be good for a teammate.
Warn your team of a looming trap you spotted.
Ask for help with a locked chest.
Beg your party to flee from an especially threatening foe!
Ask for a party member to pull a lever for you.
Let your Goatman buddy know about the fountain you found.
Thank your Healer for that clutch save!
These callouts point to the indicated subject in-world, ping it on the map, and provide accompanying chat messages with a high degree of specificity. So even if you have a keyboard or are on Discord, callouts make it easier to convey precise information quickly. Perfect for experienced teams, or pickup groups.
Few Commands, Tons of Context
With plenty of real-time surprises to adapt to, we wanted the callouts feature to be very accessible with a minimum of clicks to use. Just pick your target and then choose from a handful of callout ideas: Spot, Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down, Help and Move.
The chat banner lets you know exactly what you’ll say to your team before the message goes out.
Holiday Integration
This isn’t anything we ever promised, we just thought it would be rad.
We’ve put quite a bit of work into a few Holiday mods that are available on the Steam Workshop. But we love this kind of stuff in games, and we want to make sure every player can have access to it. By integrating our offical Holiday mods into the game itself, now even Nintendo Switch players will have access.
Our Halloween celebration mod Barony Scarony has been updated to account for the new content that’s been added since the Quality of Death update, and this will be playable in time for Halloween! In the future, we’ll be making other holiday mod updates and integrating them into the game seasonally.
And don’t worry, if like to keep it vanilla, you’ll be able to turn off the seasonal events as a game option.
Language Modding Support
Part 1 of a Kickstarter Stretch Goal!
Prior to Quality of Death, Barony had a lot of in-game text that was hard-coded, making complete translations impractical. As of the Life After Death update, all in-game text has been moved into data and is now modable. There is already an exemplary Russian language mod that’s available in the Steam Workshop. If you are interested in creating a Barony language translation mod, this would be a great model to follow!
The second part of this Kickstarter Stretch Goal needs you!
If you’ve got a translation, or are working one, that you’d like to see become part of Barony officially, we welcome you to discuss it with us in the Steam Discussions here.
We will be seeking permission to distribute finished Barony language mods as part of the game. We’re excited to support translator efforts as much as we can. Complete translations will be available in the future without mods via a future major update.
More
We’re laying the groundwork for other exciting developments. We’re just not sure if it’ll be ready in time for Halloween or not. We’ll let you know at release what made it in!
We look forward to sharing more with you as the update releases! Happy adventuring.
