Scattered Evil News

The next version of Scattered Evil is currently targeted for a late August/early September release. These screenshots should tide you over until then.

Available now on YouTube,  this unedited recording using the latest 1.7 release shows how a newly rolled Cleric finishes the game in roughly 40 minutes on Easy difficulty, with RPG Complexity set to Off. The player is doing only one sidequest to get a ranged weapon, after that he is focusing exclusively on the main questline, demonstrating the FPS side of the RPG-FPS blend.

Scattered Evil 1.7 is now available on SourceForge and ModDB.

• Improved starting experience
  • The second weapon isn’t handed out for free any more, instead the player will have to fight a few monsters to obtain it
  • The first Legion quest given by Commander Orteg to obtain the third weapon now points to a new dungeon nearby, with the number and difficulty of the monsters tuned for a player just starting out
  • Observant players can gather several hundred crowns in the updated starting map and the new low level dungeon, allowing an early purchase of important items
• Travel system rework
  • Larger towns now have a stagecoach station, with rides available from any station to any station (on higher RPG difficulties, you need to first explore a location on foot before you can book a ride there), with prices depending on travel distance and RPG complexity
  • Similar to stagecoach rides, boat travel now has a price that depends on the distance and the RPG complexity setting
  • Common to both types of rides: varying scenery while traveling, possibility of being chased by bands of roving monsters, slight reduction to hunger and fatigue
  • Traveling on foot now incurs a hunger and fatigue cost unless RPG Complexity is set to Off
  • The portals between the three mage towers in the wilds of Charybdea have been removed (the portals in Daedalon’s tower have been repurposed)
• New and updated dungeon maps
  • Vermin Hovels is an all-new forest location for the early game, containing several secret caches of gold and goodies
  • The Canyon has been rebuilt from scratch and is accessible once again from The Chasm
  • The outside area of Pyramid of Krylu has been reworked to offer a somewhat different look and massively improved load times
  • Dark Conclave and The Reckoning are now difficulty aware, including the end boss; the end boss fight now uses a number of smart scripts instead of the previous infinite spawns
  • Forest Clearing (starting map) has been extended and now includes a significant amount of gold and an introduction to the new lock and key system
  • Is’hine Oasis has been updated with a new look and massively improved load times
  • A hidden arcade has been opened, allowing access to a hitherto inaccessible part of the town of Kreo
• New and updated items
  • Torches now illuminate a small area around the player (instead of increasing the light volume of all sectors to full, like the original Hexen torch does)
  • Crystal Vials now restore 10% of the player’s maximum health or 10 hit points, whichever is greater
  • Quartz Flasks now restore 25% of the player’s maximum health or 25 hit points, whichever is greater
  • Mystic Urns now restore 100% of the player’s health
  • Treasure chests and keys: look for treasure chest keys hidden in plain sight to be able to open treasure chests you stumble upon
  • Portable food: you can now buy apples, which reduce hunger somewhat and perk you up slightly, and loaves of bread, which reduce hunger greatly but also make you a bit sleepy
  • Wings of Wrath is now a powerup that activates on pickup and has a short duration
• New artwork
  • New high resolution NPC sprites for sailors and coach drivers
  • New animated models (horses, treasure chests, spinning coins, levers), including a high resolution horse skin explicitly created for SE
  • New models including stagecoaches and palm trees
  • New sand and rock textures
• Journal improvements
  • Quests are now organized by status, with finished quests listed on top, followed by active quests, followed by hints (depending on RPG complexity settings) for quests not yet picked up
  • On the Arsenal/Spellbook/class ability pages, weapons/spells the player already possesses are listed first, followed by hints (depending on RPG complexity settings) on how to get the missing ones
  • Improved readability for map annotations
• Interface improvements
  • Reorganized the main menu and some of its submenus, most notably adding a submenu for key bindings for many inventory items
  • The help screens can now be navigated with the arrow keys both forwards and backwards
  • The starting screen now displays the game version in the lower right corner, making it easier to identify the version installed
• Miscellaneous changes
  • Multi-platform distribution: starting with 1.7, the download includes Vavoom binaries, setup scripts and startup shortcuts for both Windows and GNU/Linux
  • On Old school RPG complexity, discovering new locations and talking to certain NPCs awards additional experience points
  • Church acolytes and monks now offer their healing services only on Old school RPG complexity and it costs a few crowns, but can be used any number of times; they are not available to clerics, who start the game with a healing prayer
  • Mages now offer their mana fillup services only on Old school RPG complexity and it costs a few crowns, but can be used any number of times; they are not available to mages, who can now learn their Create Mana cantrip the first time they talk to Spellmaster Sallazar in Thystes Academy (prerequisite removed)
  • The Legion’s gravy train has been stopped. No more free armor handouts!
  • When playing on RPG Complexity Old school and picking one of the extreme alignments (Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil), you can’t pick up certain quests, just like before. However, the dungeons linked to those quests are now accessible
  • After picking up Daedalon’s second quest, he now activates one of the downstairs portals so the player can revisit the ruins of the Heresiarch’s Seminary an unlimited number of times

The next version will be released most probably sometime this month. Below a few screenshots of new and updated areas.

This is a minor bugfix/tuning release that is 100% compatible with existing 1.6 savegames. Get it from SourceForge or ModDB.

This patch includes all changes from the 1.6.1 patch as well (entries marked with asterisk). This patch can be installed on any Scattered Evil 1.6 full installation, regardless of whether it has been patched to 1.6.1 previously or not.

New features:

• Brand new Torch using a colored dynamic light
• New menu option to set hotkeys for all common artifacts
• Setup utility for Windows to set game resolution and specify IWAD location*

Bugs fixed:

• Exotic Dancer in the F.L.C. getting stuck in a conversation loop when Moral Alignment is set to Good
• Purchasing a crate of Icons of the Defender in Neusus adding incorrect amount to inventory
• Krater of Might not giving red mana*
• Travel by boat missing sky texture*
• Size of Librarian Stryker in Thystes*
• Arsenal and Spellbook displaying the same information more than once*
• Conversation with Sir Billiam in Nolcormu crashing the game*
• Mana cubes dropped by monsters giving 1 mana instead of 15*

Tuning:

• Magic/Faith/Battle Rage regeneration now based on the pool size and using a new formula that should allow for a smoother ramp up when adding Charisma points
• Swing timing for Axe of the Depths tweaked
• Axe of the Depths base damage doubled
• Monsters damaged by Axe of the Depths can now be thrown back a significant distance
• Chilling Touch base damage tripled
• Torch duration increased to 30 seconds
• Player inventory now holds up to 50 Torches at a time
• Reorganizing the Main and Options menus