The Lost Isle team has been working diligently on systems testing, bug fixing, and lots of polish ahead of our official beta testing period which begins soon. We're very happy about the progress made this month and excited about the direction each individual piece is headed as it all comes together as one awesome whole. Here's a look into some of the cool things we've been cooking up with combat:

In previous posts we've gone over our Focus system, which essentially rewards players for consistently hitting their target with a weapon. Each consecutive basic attack will build up Focus that you'll be able to spend to activate a powerful special attack.

While rarer weapons of each class will have a unique ability, even common, lower-level weapons (including the humble Kitchen Skillet) will have a special attack called Keen Strike that simply deals 2x base damage. While hitting things with kitchenware is undoubtedly a good time, below are a few examples of magic staff special abilities.

Light Staff Special: Solar Beam. Call down a pillar of blinding light that deals heavy damage per second.

Nature Staff Special: Cyclone. Summon a violent vortex that pulls enemies towards the center and deals medium damage per second.

Side note... If for some reason you're feeling bad for the skeletons used in testing, notice that the skeleton's leg pops at the end of the cyclone indicating that it really loved the experience. Anyways...

An interesting note about these two specifically is that they are ground target, but during the channel duration you're actually able to slowly move them by pointing your reticle in the desired direction and the effect will follow. Very fun to use, if I do say so myself.

We've also made some major changes to our item tooltip design. The goal here was to really simplify how much is displayed and how it's displayed, so that players can easily digest the stats and effects of an item at a quick glance.

An important part of Lost Isle's game loop is running monuments - high risk high reward areas where the very best loot can be found. You're often doing these as quickly as possible to get in and get out with what you came for, so the quicker you're able to open a chest and decide whether you need an item badly enough to make room in your inventory or replace what you have equipped the better!

• Beta playtesting kicks off in December! If you're interested in participating as a playtester make sure you join our Discord! (link below)
  
• With Beta coming up soon we're looking to collaborate with content creators of all types and sizes. If that's you, join our Discord and send us a message!

Don't miss out on important updates - make sure to wishlist Lost Isle here on Steam, join our Discord[discord.gg] community, and follow us on X!

One of the cool things we're discovering about Lost Isle during development is that as we lean more and more into the fantasy side of our medieval fantasy theme, it turns out that there aren't really any creative limitations! Gandalf inspired staves and Harry Potter-esque wands for magical combat? Don't mind if we do!

Below is a quick breakdown of our core magical combat systems and components. In addition to these, there are also cursed grimoires used for raiding enemy player bases, scrolls for providing temporary buffs, and puzzles that require crystals to activate and unlock certain areas, but we'll talk about those things another time. This month we're diving into magical weapons.

The cosmic energies flowing through the Lost Isle are heavily concentrated in the various crystals you'll encounter during exploration, and these are the main resource required for all things magical. The five different types of infused crystals you'll find and their corresponding elemental properties are ruby (fire), lazuli (ice), jade (nature), topaz (light), and amethyst (shadow).

You can find them in many different places, like randomly in specific loot containers, but the two most reliable methods are from 1) opening geodes that randomly drop from regular mining nodes, and 2) finding a rare intact crystal node as shown in the image above.

Crystals as a raw resource will manifest in two different forms: shards (common) and pristine (rare). Shards are used in basic magic crafting, and perhaps most importantly can be crushed and combined with arcane powder to make spell dust - the ammunition required for magical attacks. Pristine crystals on the other hand can be refined using an artificer's toolkit and shaped into polished crystals, which are required for crafting top tier magical weapons like wands and staves.

Wands are a short-medium ranged weapon with small magical projectiles for basic attacks. Their play style is quick and light. There are three tiers of wands, and their basic attack not only increases in damage with each new tier, but also gains additional effects like the fire wand igniting the target causing it to take burn damage over time. Wand attack projectiles deal single target impact damage and do not splash.

The Focus spender (if you need a refresher on how Focus works in Lost Isle, you can go back and read about it in a previous dev log called "Hocus Focus") for wands is a channeled beam of elemental energy matching the corresponding crystal type. For example if you were using an ice wand and you reached 100% Focus, you'd be able to unleash a powerful channeled ice beam in the target direction. Similar to basic attacks, the duration, damage, and effects of these beams scale with each tier. Since this is a channeled spell, any input aside from aiming the beam's direction with your mouse will cancel the effect early.

Staves are a medium-long ranged weapon with large magical projectiles for basic attacks that require fully charging before being able to shoot. Their play style is heavy and potent. Similar to wands, each new tier of staff gives their basic attack increasingly powerful additional effects. Staff attacks deal splash damage in an area around the initial impact, the size of which also scales, making this weapon a great option for taking on multiple enemies at once or shooting into open doorways when base raiding.

The Focus spender for staves is a frontal cone with devastating elemental effects. For example, the light staff frontal cone deals instant damage, pushes enemies back and blinds them for several seconds. These abilities are instant cast and are a brief but useful deterrent against foes that manage to close the gap against the staff wielder.

Most people, regardless of the specific title they're playing, typically gravitate towards a certain fantasy or another whenever the options exist. Some enjoy the brutish ways of the warrior, some the tactful precision of a ranger, and others the arcane mastery of wizardry. In Lost Isle we're doing our best to ensure that all three of those preferences are not only competitively viable but also maximally fun. We're excited for the day soon when you can get your hands on these unique weapons and take them for a spin!

• Beta playtesting is almost here! If you're interested in participating as a playtester make sure you join our Discord! (link below)
  
• With Beta coming up soon we're looking to collaborate with content creators of all types and sizes. If that's you, join our Discord and send us a message!

Don't miss out on important updates - make sure to wishlist Lost Isle here on Steam, join our Discord[discord.gg] community, and follow us on X!