Hands of Necromancy [Full game released!]

[Rachael]

The Steam version of the demo has been updated.

I'll be releasing an update for the non-steam version, soon.

Note: On the steam version, if you open the properties, under "Betas", you can switch to the "save-compat-2022-06-02" - if you are in the middle of a save this will allow you (temporarily) to continue from that save. These branches are a stopgap for the updates breaking save games, but they are removed quickly.

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- Increased power of the Tornado Spell. Enemies on the ground will be killed faster than before.
- New behavior for Ring of Ice. When hitting an enemy, ice shots will be thrown around the target for a short distance, potentially hitting other targets.
- Reduced ammo from pickups for Ring of Ice and Tornado Spell from 5 (small) and 15 (large) to 3 (small) and 12 (large).
- Max ammo decreased to 50 from 100 for Ring of Ice and Tornado Spell.
- Striking enemies with the Magic Sword now turns the player toward the target.
- Enemies will be stunned less often when attacked (especially golems).
- Increased HP of Cold Breath (Ice Golem).
- Removed some extraneous proprs and elements from some maps
- Fixes for textures, sound volume, and gameplay bugs
- Engine update

Issued planned for fix before Release v1.0
- Text scaling problem in the Quest Journal
- Texture seam problem in map05
- R & T too similar in game font

[Emmanuelexe]

"- Reduced ammo from pickups for Ring of Ice and Tornado Spell from 5 (small) and 15 (large) to 3 (small) and 12 (large)."
Sorry, i missed with the number, its 4 and not 3 for the small ammo

I played the whole game again with this balance, it seems to work, enjoy!

[Rachael]

v1.1 direct download links updated:
Windows: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d7zAKp ... sp=sharing
Mac OS: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wd9i0C ... sp=sharing
Linux: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W3t5M9 ... sp=sharing

[RKD]

Did a quick complete run on normal to check how this new update goes:

• Weapons:
• New max ammo for ice/tornado and their pickups work really well. Previous max of 100 was unnecessarily too much. Small pickups could even give 3, probably. Didn't run out of ammo once with either weapon, although it's expected the first hub to be generous with supplies.
• In practice, I didn't found any substantial difference between the new Ice ring and the previous one, tbh. I don't mean its new extra FX is pointless, not at all. It's a nice touch, indeed. It's just that there is almost no spot in the current maps where it can shine its small AoE effect (the chapel-like room with an ambush of 7-8 golems in the Factory is one, though). I guess there will be cluster of enemies in subsequent levels where it could be the star.
• As of now, ice and tornado weapons are still very similar in function (both are best suited against enemies in a straight line). Exactly same ammount of ammo in respective pickups/max ammo don't help to separate them much gameplay-wise, imo. New ice ring is a change in the right direction, though. Keep at it!
  
  Maps: (I reckon these are minor nitpicks...)
• Torch secret in Factory now works as intended but I gotta say it looked more rock-ish before.
• New Iron key door has a plaque on the side but maybe said plaque would look nicer if it were above the door instead? Btw, its linedef doesn't appear colored in the automap like other key doors.
  
  Sounds:
• I may be wrong but I had the impression that clacking sounds of zombie thrown bones were louder. Like, very.
• Ozymandias mentioned sounds with a typo in their extensions. They are in sounds/cultist/collision, still in this update.
  
  Broken stuff?:
• In Farmhouse, this door to the right of the screenshot gives an "unknown script" message. I'm pretty sure it said "This door opens elsewhere" before:
  
• In Lost Village, for some reason I got a 99/96 monsters count. No idea what caused it:
  

In a sidenote (not really reporting anything) I didn't attempt to melee an ice golem before and its "melee" attack is pretty cool. What's even more cool is that morphing into snake counters said attack because you're smaller. That's pretty clever. It's really fun to discover new strats even when this is still in demo state.

[Emmanuelexe]

Yeah, in map02, stuff is fixed!
Maybe small ammo could be 3 instead of 4
I will see with the Ring of Ice, yeah it was maybe a bit too short for the multiples projectiles

[Rachael]

.oga is a valid extension for sound files, this is not a typo, there is nothing to fix with them.

[RKD]

.oga is a valid extension for sound files, this is not a typo, there is nothing to fix with them.

My bad then. It was just strange that all sounds are ogg except for those.

[JohnnyTheWolf]

One thing that I find a bit confusing is that the blue potion health vial shares the same colour as the ammo counter, so I keep mistaking it for ammunition.

I think it would be better if those vials were red instead - or at the very least a different colour.

[Emmanuelexe]

One thing that I find a bit confusing is that the blue potion health vial shares the same colour as the ammo counter, so I keep mistaking it for ammunition.

I think it would be better if those vials were red instead - or at the very least a different colour.

We will see

[Redneckerz]

OpenGL ES is not officially supported. You are missing features using that backend. We did not actively block the option since it does still technically run, and doesn't impact the experience in any meaningful way (a few objects are just less pretty is all) - but it's on the same status as running Windows 11 on an 11 year old machine. We will not actively suggest using that backend in any official capacity.

Yeah that's basically why i was asking - Its there, it just makes things less pretty.

I'd wager this would be a different tale if HON used some of the more liberal GZDoom features, like physically based stuff.

But since it is there, you know that someone is going to test the waters and see from which hardware it can run - In contrast to pre-GZDoom builds that didn't had an GLES renderer. Back there, the minimum requirement was just OpenGL 3.3, but 4.5 was preferred. So i understand the team not promoting the option - I am just glad its there for the more adventurous. So basically what Graf said.

PS: I mentioned to one of your colleague at DW that i could review the game - I still review stuff for a games site, after all.

[Emmanuelexe]

We will see to give you a key maybe at the 20, its soon!

[Redneckerz]

We will see to give you a key maybe at the 20, its soon!

Would be appreciated!

[Proydoha]

I've played updated demo

Minor nitpicks:

---

- Trees are pocking through the walls on Garden map near the maze:

- Misaligned textures underwater on farmhouse:

- Little transparent holes in fullscreen hud look a little strange. Once I've noticed them my brain was like "I see some movement there!" as I was looking around
- Village map was too dark, I went to the options ans switched sector light level to bright because of that and torch powerup was almost at the end of a map. I don't remember if its possible to get secret torch from forge but it would be cooler if torch was a toggleable powerup. So if you managed to get it early it would be easier to explore village.
- Some village houses does not have doors. I understand that it is a compromise between houses without doors and "This door is jammed" messages from every door but for some reason it bothered me here.
- Not sure if jumping on top of the enemies to reach secret yellow potion on village map is correct way of getting it but that's how I got it.
- Fire staff attack sound and ammo pickup sounds were strangely headache inducing. Especially in headphones. This might be my personal problem because I've asked other people and they said that those sound effects were fine.
- Enemies are not spinning while in tornado!
- Skull banner decoration sprites need a bit more work because as it is it looks like its nose part is blinking during the animation.
- Golem stomping attack is hard to understand. It feels like it hits you from very far away.
- Enemy snakes projectiles are very hard to see, especially on dark village map.
- Maybe it would be a good idea to add to objectives screen information on what map transformations could be found. And if snake transformation is easy to spot right away golem transformation I've missed as I was exploring the forge. And then I spent a lot of time reexploring all maps searching for it.
- Because I've found golem transformation last it felt for me like a glorified key. Golem can "open" cracks and attack enemies. Compared to golem snake can open "snake doors", breathe underwater, slip into low ceiling areas and has a ranged weapon with infinite ammo. Hope golem gets more useful in a full version!

Other than that I had fun exploring the maps and figuring out secrets.
The fact that all enemies have a custom sprite for a frozen state is very cool!
Fish has coolest sprites overall in my opinion.
Will look towards full release!

[JohnnyTheWolf]

Will the game be released on itch.io?

[Emmanuelexe]

First on steam then we will check for GOG, later on the other platforms yes