First of all, thank you for being patient and understanding.

Second of all, thank you to everyone over at Kickstarter for making Balrum a possibility. You guys were so kind and supportive we could not believe it.

We will support Balrum for years to come and enhance it as much as we can. 1.0 is just the beginning

We hope that you will enjoy your time spent in the world of Balrum!

Thank you everyone!

Steam Store Page

GOG Store Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

We hope you are all well.

We have been really busy with Balrum and the game is finally in a good shape. We really needed the extra time. The whole game is finally balanced to our liking and we even could add a few extra features.

At the moment everything is looking good for a late February release.

There were a few major problems that we finally sorted out. The biggest problem was the support of really high refresh rate monitors. Balrum had trouble with 144Hz monitors but thanks to a thorough rewrite of our subsystems Balrum is running smoother than ever. As we were rewriting a lot of things related to the speed of the engine we took the opportunity to make moving around even smoother. You will see the difference!

Here are a few new features:

-Moveable pet health/mana bar

-Bigger main QuickSlot bar

-Autosave every X minutes (configurable)
-World Tooltips are now viewable from a distance

-Eye protection mode “Eye Care” (enabled in the video tab under the “style”)
-Options button in the Main Menu

The extra time allowed us to finish scrapped lore bits and quests so there is even more to do in the world.

Thank you for your patience everyone. We are working as hard as we can.

Steam Store Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

Estimated released date: February 2016

Thanks to your great feedback the game is better than ever!

The last year for us was a huge challenge. We never posted about the problems and struggles we had during development because those have nothing to do with Balrum. We have been working pretty much non-stop even on the weekends for ten months now. It is great to see the game near complete. Balrum ended up being a huge game!

You can expect a massive update to the Kickstarter version of the game at the same day when Balrum will be available on Steam. The update will have almost as many changes like the previous mega updates. Content wise you will finally be able to play all five chapters! During the beta you were only able to play chapter one. Some of the big new features are:

Character Creation
Intro
Difficulty Settings (on the hardest mode monsters will be smarter not just tougher)
Tutorial text pop ups
Simple executables with a bundled JRE on all platforms

All of your suggestions have been added to the game (the ones that were reasonable and compatible with the game, pretty much 99% of them). Some of the more extreme ones turned out to be great additions!

The whole game has been redesigned and rewritten completely over a dozen times. Balrum is our first project and we quickly learned that if something is not working or requires a lot of “hacking” to get somewhat working, that means that a part of the engine needs to be rewritten.

We think that its only fair if we tell you what could not fit in the game. The only thing that we could not get into the game are portraits. There are almost 200 NPCs in the game that would have needed portraits.

Most of you sent us your designs regarding NPC/Monster design. Those of you who have not can still send them and they will be included in a patch. (Kickstarter goodies will be included in the final version)

Without your help none of this would have happened. We are truly grateful for your support and you can count on our continued support for Balrum in the future!

We uploaded a new trailer that showcases a few brand new parts of the world. If you are interested you can check it out!

Thank you everyone. See you soon!

Steam Store Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

Thank you for your reports! Your bug reports and suggestions are helping us in a big way!

This update includes dozens of small fixes and patches for a few nasty bugs. We also made a few adjustments to make the game systems more understandable.

The new version is 0.90_270. You can find it at the usual location.

Saves are compatible. Please copy your “saves” folder into the new version.

Have a nice day everyone!

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

First of all we would like to thank everyone who sent us bug reports. Pretty much all reported bugs were fixed.

Save games are compatible but the config.xml is not. Please delete the config.xml located in the root directory of the game! The new version is 0.90_252. You can find it at the usual location.

We added a few features suggested by the community.
Here are a few of them:

Line of Sight Indicator in combat (optional):

Small moveable Rested/Thirst/Hunger indicator (optional):

Transparent MiniMap (optional):

The survival skill received attention. Now you are able to tend to your wounds at your tent. A higher survival skill level will allow you to restore more health. The “Tend Wounds” function requires a splint.

We added the final teleportation system to the beta. When you examine a teleportation obelisk you will be able to replicate that obelisk at your safe place. This will make your safe place a teleportation node. Also the cooldown of the safe place trinket has been greatly reduced. (If you already discovered the 4 teleport nodes in Darkwood simply touch them again and you will learn how to build it at your safe place.)

Now there are three quick slot bars at your disposal.

Daggers now have a proper sprite.

Other areas that received changes:
GUI
Farming
Cooking
Options Panel
Sound System
Critical Crafting
Spell Tooltips
Item Values
Combat

Have a great day folks!

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

We are still waiting for a few things before we can announce the release date.

We received great feedback for version 0.90_205 but there were a few bugs and oddities. We fixed the bugs and implemented a few things you suggested. This version is save game compatible with the previous version. To continue playing with your saves please copy your old saves folder to the new version’s folder. (files/saves)

A big thank you for everyone who sent us bug reports and suggestions!

We added a feature that we were against for a good amount of time. Auto walk to destination. As Balrum is a hybrid turn based game auto walking in combat could get you killed really fast. So during combat there is no auto walking. Also if anything odd happens while auto walking the walking event should stop making sure there won’t be problems. You can try out this new feature with a simple right click to the desired destination. We still don’t quite love the feature but we have to admit that it is really comfortable to play this way. Full control with WASD or the mouse still gives a better experience because you can examine everything on the screen at your own pace. With auto walk you might miss something so be cautious when using this new feature.

The trade panel has been further simplified for ease of use. And now with a mouse wheel click you are able to pick up the topmost item from an item stack.

The new version is 0.90_226. You can find the new version at the usual place.

Have a great day folks!

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

A few freshly baked screenshots:

As we are getting closer to release we are back with a giant update for Balrum!

Backer content is being added to the game and if some of your creations are not entirely compatible with the game you will receive an email.

The entire game has been rebalanced and redesigned. There is almost nothing that hasn’t been altered. From basic mechanics to bigger features like the new renderer everything is new. Even the maps have received a huge amount of changes. When you start up the game you might feel that it is familiar but when you play for a few minutes you will definitely feel that you are playing a very different Balrum. We truly hope that you will be pleasantly surprised. Almost every suggestion from the community has been added to the game!

This is the game we had in mind when we started our Kickstarter campaign. As you know Balrum is our first game. So most likely there will be a few bugs lurking around but this time we can finally show you a game that we are proud of. The previous versions were merely a shadow of what Balrum is now.

Thank you very much for your bug reports! All critical bugs have been fixed including a few nasty bugs that prevented you from running the game.

The new version is 0.90_205. You can find it at the usual place. We will send out the download information messages again to ensure all of you get the new version.

Now we would like to talk about some of the bigger changes.

Manual 
You will find a manual for Balrum in the root directory. This is an early version of the manual for the game.

Balance 
The entire game has been rebalanced. From top to bottom Balrum is a new game. Small but important mechanics have been heavily altered, for example your dexterity now influences a lot of things. Enemy spells and stats have been completely rebalanced as well as your characters stats and abilities. Leveling up skills is different. You don’t have to create dozens of weapons just to advance your weapon crafting skill to a new level. If you have the spare learning points you are able to learn a new level of the skill from a teacher. Traders, teachers, daily routines, enemy AI, item values, survival mechanics, cooking, alchemy, weapon/armor crafting and a lot of other things that have an impact on each other have been rebalanced keeping every aspect of the game in mind. Loot has been wiped on every map and hand placed again with much more care.

New Content 
New quests and lore bits are in. Chapter 2-3-4 and 5 is near complete. We think that the world of Balrum is now large enough for every adventurer but not too large that the content is sparse. There are multiple twists in the main story and lots of side quests for you to venture on. As you know the main story has three paths. The guild you choose will determine your path. We are extremely excited to show you the new chapters but as you know that will only happen on full release (for good reasons). All we can tell you is that the new chapters are multiple times bigger than what you experienced during the beta. We would love to tell you more but we can’t because it is impossible to talk about the new chapters without spoiling a lot of things about the plot twists and the story.

New spells
There are a lot of new spells available from teachers throughout Balrum. Threat values and new mechanics have been also added to abilities and spells. There are a large amount of new enemy spells also. Making combat more interesting against certain enemies. A few examles:

Placing items on the ground 
When you throw out an item it won’t disappear. It will be placed in a bag on the ground. You will be able to find every item you throw on the ground so nothing will disappear. If something goes wrong while crafting or your inventory overflows, items will be placed on the ground with a warning message.

Durability 
A number of items have durability. You can repair items that are ruined at a blacksmith. If an item gets ruined and you have it equipped, it will be placed in your inventory and you cannot use it until you repair it.

Known Recipes 
You will be able to look at your recipes anytime you want. There is a new button next to the quick slots. This button is the Known Recipes button. When you discover a new combinable item, its recipe will be automatically added to your Know Recipes panel under the Combinable tab so you will always know how to create combinable items you already discovered. Every other recipe you create like Alchemy recipes or Armor/Weapon schematics will be listed in this panel.

Your Pet 
More animals are now tamable. The pet button now tells more information about your pet. There are new options when you click the pet button or right click your pet. These options allow you to precisely tell your pet what you want it to do.

Map 
Now your main map shows you where you have been and haven’t been. This way you won’t leave out anything on a map. From now on you can place notes on your map. Simply left click in your map and type your note. Some NPCs might also mark your map so you won’t miss an important quest.

Mini Maps
Dungeons have minimaps now. Unlike the Darkwood map that is slightly faded because you have discovered it entirely throughout the years you lived there, the minimaps are not discovered at all. When you move around in the dungeons, you will gradually discover the map and draw its layout on the paper.

Target Locking 
Your first left click on an enemy will lock it. This will allow you to look at the buffs that might be on your target. These buffs might be very important so watch out! When a target is locked its target frame will turn silver. When casting a spell or using a ranged ability with right clicking, target locking will happen automatically.

Basic Mechanics
Your character panel now tells you a lot more about the stats you have. Every major stat has a detailed description on how the stat alters your character. The percentage information displayed on your character panel now shows you real calculated values against your selected target.

Threat 
Most spells and abilities have threat values. This means that if a bear is attacking your pet and you heal your pet, the bear might decide to attack you instead of your pet. Your pet and your own threat values against a target will be displayed above your health and mana bar.

Logbook 
Everything that happens in combat is now displayed in your logbook. Quests and other texts will also appear in the logbook so you can look things back.

Livestock Mechanics 
Now you are able to place down animal pens. You can release the animals you found or bought in these pens. The pen barrel and trough will tell you everything you need to know about your animals.

New Building 
When you enter your safe place and press B or the building button you will see the new building panel. The new panel allows you to create your home much faster and it is much more comfortable than the old one. Now you are able to plant trees and other foliage. Also you will find blueprints of special furnitures during your adventures.

Critical Crafts 
All your crafted items have a chance to be critical crafts. Critical crafts receive stat bonuses and are grouped in a different inventory slot for easy access. You can boost your critical craft chance with certain items and buffs.

Alchemy 
Alchemy has been once again totally redesigned. Now alchemy is a very special feature of Balrum. You are able to create real magical potions not just healing and mana potions and some mildly interesting ones. You are able to create truly powerful potions. You can make your steps fiery or make a potion that reflects all damage against you. You can even create potions that will have multiple effects and do special events. You will find a new ‘Event’ and ‘Buff’ system in the new Alchemy feature. Events will play out in the order you place ingredients with event effects in your alchemy bottle. After these events have stopped, any buff effect that your potion has will be added to your character.

Cooking 
Cooking has been redesigned too. You now have to select the main material of your recipe. The main material will heavily influence what your food is capable to hold. Creating food is now much different from alchemy. With alchemy you are able to create potions that instantly regenerate your health or mana but with special foods you regenerate a certain amount of health and mana every turn. If you create really special recipes your foods might give you stat boosts for x amount of turns. You are now able to bake bread. First you have to figure out how to make flour and after that you need to combine the flour with something to make the dough. When you have the dough simply put it into an oven and bake your bread. Hover over the main materials for more information.

Weapon/Armor Crafting
Weapon and armor crafting is also new. Now you are able to select what your custom armor will look like. You can use many more ingredients while creating your custom items. This allows you to create truly unique ones. Hover over the main materials for more information.

GUI Zoom 
You are now able to make the GUI bigger. Go to the options panel and drag the GUI Zoom slider to zoom the user interface. This option is available only with the modern renderer and only when you use a high enough resolution. After zooming your GUI you are able to sharpen it with the GUI Sharpen slider.

Smooth World Zoom
Now zooming is much smoother thanks to the new renderer. You are also able to sharpen the world with the World Sharpen slider in the options panel.

Sharpen

Options 
There are a number of new options in the options panel. Including full screen support with selectable resolutions and a few new gameplay and input options.

New Renderer
Balrum has a new OpenGL 3+ renderer. This new renderer allowed us to make the game feel smoother and more future proof. If you wish to use the old OpenGL 1 renderer you can do so by selecting it in the options menu.

New Input
The entire input system has been rewritten. There are new input features and many odd bugs are now fixed thanks to the new system.

Fixes
It is impossible to list every fix that the new version has. We lost track somewhere around the 400 mark. We have a feeling that this patch has more fixes than all of the other patches combined. Once again thank you for your well written bug reports folks!

As soon as we have an official release date for the full version we will let you know!

Have a great day backers and followers!

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Facebook Page

Youtube Channel

We are still working hard on the next beta version update. Again, thank you for helping us with your votes!

Have a great day folks!

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Web Page

Youtube Channel

Finally it’s time to send out the “Create a Magical Item” emails. As you know we already sent out emails for the NPC/Monster design tier. The procedure is pretty much the same. We will send out the emails shortly.

We made sure that the engine will allow you to make your item’s “on use” effect to be almost anything. (within reason of course)
We are excited about your item ideas!

There are a few of you who have not replied to our emails regarding Add-Ons. So please if you bought Add-Ons and have not yet replied to our emails, do reply soon.

We noticed that you might have special “Kickstarter” only email accounts so please check them because all of our messages are sent to the email addresses you use here on Kickstarter.

Right now we are trying to be Greenlit on Steam so if you are able please vote for us. Thank you for your votes so far! We are sitting in a really good place in the top 100.

Greenlight Page

Kickstarter Page

Web Page

Youtube Channel

As always.
Have a great day.

Our Steam Greenlight process has started! Let’s hope for the best. You can check out our Greenlight page here:

Steam Greenlight Balrum

Our web page and youtube page has been updated.

Check out the new Teaser Video:

As always guys. Have a great day.