Flare 1.13

January 31, 2022

Update: Bug-fix release 1.13.04 is available, so grab that instead. Flare 1.13 is now available for download. There’s lots of new stuff in this release, so let’s dive in.

Better gamepad behavior

Gamepad functionality has been given an overhaul. We’ve moved from using the SDL_Joystick API to using the SDL_GameController API. Instead of trying to map actions to arbitrary buttons and axes, we can now map them to the common XBox 360 controller layout. And thanks to SDL_GameController, these mappings will match up logically for non-360 controllers (e.g. XBox “B” matches Playstation “Circle”). We also fixed some bugs with the analog deadzone setting, including setting a minimum value of 8000. This should prevent players from accidentally setting their deadzone at too low of a value. The new default mappings are as follows: Navigating menus with a gamepad is also much improved. One of the most notable changes is the addition of an “action picker” dialog box. When a player presses the Accept action on a selected item or power, the dialog will pop up with a list of all the available actions. Previous to this change, performing some of these actions with a gamepad was either difficult or outright impossible (i.e. dropping items on the ground). And it’s not just better for gamepads. Mobile/touchscreen users will also be able to take advantage of the action picker when interacting with items and powers.

Secondary equipment set

A contributor who goes by r-a-cristian-93 on Github added support for multiple equipment loadouts. We now provide players with two sets of equipment slots in their inventory. By pressing the arrow buttons in the inventory (or the default key, Tab), players can quickly swap between different loadouts of equipped items. For example, players may want a loadout for farming that focuses on XP gain and item drop rate and a loadout for fighting bosses that focuses on physical and magic defenses.

Fog-of-war

Another contribution by r-a-cristian-93. The fog-of-war feature can be used to draw dark fog over unexplored tiles, and light fog over tiles outside the player’s range of vision. It’s been a requested feature for a while now, but it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to use for the Empyrean Campaign game. What made the feature more attractive to me was the secondary feature: fog-of-war for the minimap. Now, only the areas where the player has explored will be revealed on the minimap.

Improved font rendering

Text was sometimes hard to read, especially when it involved small font sizes or complex glyphs. By blending text with a copy of itself, I was able to get a much clearer looking result. The effect is subtle, but these comparisons should illustrate the difference:

Gameplay improvements

Health and Mana potions now have Super and Ultra variants that can be crafted through the alchemy system. The Goblin Thief and Alchemist’s Skirt have also been updated to work with all of the available kinds of potions. The Adept class' Shield power has been modified to be more useful to players of all classes. Instead of just Mental Damage, the shield’s power is determined by a combination of player level, the Mental stat, and the Defense stat. Of course, Adepts will still be the best when it comes to effectively using the power.

Platform-specific changes

Several problems have been fixed for players on Android. Most importantly, Flare should now work properly on Android 10 or greater. We also updated some of the packages that we distribute. The Windows version now includes a 64-bit executable by default. The 32-bit executable is still included as a optional extra. We’ve also replaced the x86_64 tarball for Linux users with an AppImage.

 Windows

 Linux

 Mac OS

Android

Sources

Changelog

Engine features

Engine fixes

Game updates

Translation updates