Talebench

What’s new

What changed in Talebench, a section per day, newest first.

Dice Duel has a new table: Captain Aldric fights the way we expect most dice battles to be played. · 6 changes

Updates that day: A new opponent: the standard dice fight · The things you use most in the top bar · Defend die against die · Foes ahead in the crawler · Dice battles that show who attacks · Made for desktop or phone; calmer battles · Languages on the title screen · Settings like a game’s · Menu pages with icons · An inventory screen like a game’s · The bag in your style, the slots on the figure · A game-like inventory · Demo buttons in their game’s letters · Your reply stays in view · Endings found as cards · A calmer ending and a clean picture · Cleaner options and fewer false warnings · A story map you can read from far out · 24 dungeon tiles in the library · Dungeon tiles made with AI · No dead ends in the dark · The view stays while a trap waits · Victory in sight · Bumping into walls · A larger dungeon map · Foes that belong in the corridor · Bells, altars and wells in the corridor · Traps in plain sight · The crawler’s screen in one frame

Battles

  • Dice Duel has a new table: Captain Aldric fights the way we expect most dice battles to be played. Four dice aimed high, middle and low, a weapon and a shield on each side, and a defence throw against every blow.
  • New rule for dice battles, Die against die: when you defend, your dice are set against the attack’s one by one — drag each onto the attack die it should meet (or tap, or use the arrow keys), see what gets through each pair, then Defend. The Fencing Master in the Dice Duel fights this way.
  • In a dice battle the fighters’ cards now say who attacks and who defends, whose turn it is stands out, a foe’s attack from the turn before is marked as the last turn, and a defence throw is named as one with its outcome in large type.
  • Die against die with hit zones: each defence die you set against an attack die now guards that die’s zone, and the columns name the zone (the die set aside counts for nothing).
  • Die against die: your defence now rolls in and lies as thrown, so pairing your dice well is your move.
  • Battles, dice battles too, now start at a calmer pace for new players; Normal and Fast are in the settings for those who know the game.

A battle met in a dungeon seen from inside is fought before the corridor where it was met, when its encounter has no picture of its own. · 1 change

Updates that day: Your own wall pictures in the preview · The small map in its corner · What lies at your feet · Make camp from the message line · Finds in the message line · Your own pictures for dungeon walls · Battles in the corridor · Make your own dungeon walls · Your party beside the corridor · Things in the corridor · Textured dungeon corridors · A crawler’s pad and compass · The whole map, also from inside · Every field named · Chests worth opening · A cell’s own things first · A dungeon map that explains itself · A diary at hand

Battles

  • A battle met in a dungeon seen from inside is fought before the corridor where it was met, when its encounter has no picture of its own.

Special throws: a weapon can grant a move paid with a set of dice, such as 1 · 1 · 2, so low rolls count too. · 2 changes

Updates that day: Walking through rooms · Rooms bigger than a cell · A roomier dungeon editor · Foes that walk the dungeon · Deepwatch, a dungeon crawl to play · Spinners, pits, pressure plates and dungeon sounds · The whole dungeon map, and moving by hand · Dungeons from inside, on paper and with secrets · Dungeons to explore

Battles

  • Special throws: a weapon can grant a move paid with a set of dice, such as 1 · 1 · 2, so low rolls count too. The Dice Duel’s Ember Blade shows it.
  • The battle simulator works for games where the party is chosen while playing: it fights with the characters who can join.

A lost battle can lead back into the story: on the map, drag the end of its “⚔ lost” arrow onto any passage, also the one where the fight starts, to fight again. · 6 changes

Updates that day: Clearer when something goes wrong · Losing need not end the game · Lines in any order, names that read · Settings that fit, weapons that count · Quicker pages, sturdier library · A library that stays quick · A readable menu in every look · Clear dice over any scene · A steady sidebar · Tab when you type fast

Battles

  • A lost battle can lead back into the story: on the map, drag the end of its “⚔ lost” arrow onto any passage, also the one where the fight starts, to fight again. Moving an arrow’s end no longer asks anything, and the battle stays.
  • The dice rules name the value an attack is thrown against, and experience points only show while levels come from them.
  • Dragging from a battle’s option onto a card asks whether that card follows a won or a lost battle, instead of replacing the battle. The same goes for checks.
  • When a lost battle leads on while the fallen stay down, so the next battle would be lost at once, the editor says so under the battle, with a button that lets everyone get up after a battle.
  • The checks for dice battles count the weapons your party can wear: a foe only a good sword can beat is no longer called unbeatable, and a villain’s values no longer count as the party’s.
  • In a battle over a picture, the dice, their tray and the buttons show in full colour: the picture behind the battle had lain faintly over them, which made “Throw for who starts” hard to read over a bright scene.

In dice battles where a value like Strength adds to each throw, the Armour hint and the warning about a foe that blocks almost every throw now count that value. · 3 changes

Updates that day: Big stories stay quick · Fairer armour hints · Conversations as deep as you like · Every line readable · Portraits as you framed them · Safer translation scripts · Translations and files through the API · Planned battles fit a laptop; decks checked more closely · No two of the same name in your lists · One click for two of the same name; Strength shown in the throw · Pictures in any language; two versions of one person stay apart

Battles

  • In dice battles where a value like Strength adds to each throw, the Armour hint and the warning about a foe that blocks almost every throw now count that value.
  • A planned battle with many foes fits a laptop window: Play the round stays in view, cards in rows no longer cover each other, and a foe's intent is never cut.
  • A value added to a dice throw is named in the battle log ("14 + Strength 2") and printed in the book; the armour warning counts it.

Sounds made with AI now understand descriptions in German and other languages: the description is turned into a short English sound prompt first, so heavy rain sounds like rain and not like footsteps. · 16 changes

Updates that day: Sounds from a description in any language · See every visit in the preview · One tap shows the whole line · Only if a choice was made · Play takes the keyboard into the game · Undo that says what it undoes · Copy, a level in between, and where an option leads · Dice battles that hold still on a phone · The dialogue editor as a grid · Dice battles that stay in place · Combinations with a look of their own · Dice effects shown as intended · Game cards that tell more · Tidy game cards · The start page knows you · Health that only counts down · Dice battles that read cleanly

Battles

  • A battle says whose turn it is in words: “Round 2 · Wren’s turn · then Rat, Slime”.
  • Dice battles can be switched on in the simple view, with the number of dice; everything else about them stays in the full view.
  • A dice battle no longer scrolls by itself: only where it is taller than the window, at most once a turn and never while dice fly; Attack stays where it is once you can press it. The first fight fits a phone whole.
  • A foe’s skill names itself (“Crown Smash hits Wren for 6”), a blow without a defence says why, and an outcome that seems to contradict its numbers explains itself. Kept dice are lifted with a lock, the tip to keep a pair only comes for a pair worth keeping, and fewer landing thuds play.
  • Dice Duel’s tavern remembers your evening: beaten tables are marked, the barkeep names the next one, and after a loss the same table stands first. A fallen foe gets a short last beat before the result.
  • The battle no longer jumps while dice fly or land, the latest line puts the outcome first, and the foe’s blow stays readable while you decide. With hit zones each blow is one line that adds up, and a hit is never followed by a miss.
  • Hold back says what it does, a skill paid with a die says so (“Fireball — pay a die of 5+”), the foe’s damage rises from its dice, and after a battle a short recap names the rounds and your best throw.
  • Dice Duel starts easier: the first fight gives a tip (“Keep your pair, throw the rest again.”), Pip has less health, each table cheers in its own words, and the champion’s ending counts your evening.
  • A combination can have its own colour and sound: set them under its effects in the dice battle (full view), for the battle, a defence set or a foe’s own set. In Dice Duel the Dice King’s three of a kind glows crimson and rings a bell.
  • A clash has its own crack and its dice bounce apart; a defence one die short of a combination says so (“One away from a run (Footwork)!”); a combination’s name no longer stands on a die.
  • In published games the dice tray’s effects, the combination’s name and the Combinations table now have their full look again: their styles had been held back by the browser’s security rules.
  • In every battle a hit’s health number now holds its old value until the hit lands, then counts down to the new one. It no longer jumps above the old value for a moment, and two hits close together count on from what is shown.
  • The battle’s lines no longer stand twice, in the story above and in the battle: while a battle shows, they are only in the battle (screen readers and Story so far keep them). This holds for every battle, with dice or without.
  • The tray tells nothing before the dice land: what the attack would do appears with the last die. The foe’s hit stays in the battle’s lines while you decide, and the round keeps saying whose turn it is to the end.
  • Throw to defend throws at once and goes away when pressed, so a defence round is about a second shorter. Fighters stand side by side on tablets and wide screens, and your turn’s buttons keep one order on every screen.
  • The health count ticks three to six times, a little lower each time, with a soft thud at the end; a foe’s count ticks too. When your move comes, your name in the round’s header glows with Attack.

Dice battles come alive: the dice tumble into the tray, knock into each other and settle with a wobble; you hear the shake, the roll on wood or felt, the clacks and a sting for every combination. · 27 changes

Updates that day: Faster, smoother dice rounds · A steady story map · Clearer dice battles on every screen · Dice that roll on a tray · Your saves in your account, combinations in defence · Fairer and clearer dice battles · A tidier dialogue editor · Dice that feel real · Your turn in the dice tray · Weapons and shields, a dialogue editor · Dice that land one by one, and skills paid with a die · Aim high, middle or low · Counter attacks

Battles

  • Dice battles come alive: the dice tumble into the tray, knock into each other and settle with a wobble; you hear the shake, the roll on wood or felt, the clacks and a sting for every combination. A combination lights up and names itself, a critical shakes the screen, attack dice fly at the foe, and in a defence the two rows clash. The deciding die rolls a little longer.
  • In dice battles the menu under the battle is gone: your turn happens in the dice tray. Attack is the main button, Hold back gives up your attack for a stronger defence, Skills and Things open their lists right there, and ⋯ holds Flee and the rest. Keys: Enter attacks, H holds back, S skills, I things, R throws again. Battles without dice keep their menu.
  • Weapons and shields in dice battles: a weapon changes your dice (the Axe makes a pair count double, the Spear reaches high, the Greatsword throws one die more), and a shield guards one place — you move it after seeing the foe's dice. Pick yours in Dice Duel's new Armoury and try the Shield Wall.
  • The dice of a throw now land one after another, and the combination shows once the last one lands. A click or Space shows the rest at once; "Dice appear" "All at once" in the look brings back the old way.
  • A skill can need a die: "Fireball: a die of 5 or more". You pay with that die, and it leaves your throw, so your best die goes either into the skill or into the attack. The skill menu shows the condition ("5+"), and foes pay with dice too. Try Wren's Fireball and the Dice King's Crown Smash in Dice Duel.
  • With "Aim at top, middle, bottom" each of your three dice hits its own place on the foe: you put the dice on top, middle and bottom before attacking, and each meets the armour there. Flying foes cannot be hit low, small ones not high, and a helmet only guards the head. With four dice one is set aside.
  • With "Counter attack when every die wins" a defence that beats the attack die by die stops it and strikes back at once with a free attack ("Wren beats every die: counter attack!"). Foes can do it too; a counter attack is never countered. On for the Fencing Master in Dice Duel.
  • A foe’s round takes about four seconds instead of five or six: no more waiting while nothing moves, and your next throw starts while the foe’s hit is still counting down. Both sides throw for who starts at once.
  • Health counts down from the old value to the new one, with a soft tick per point, and never jumps back up. With Reduce motion nothing moves, but the battle still pauses long enough to read.
  • The combination’s name sits on the tray’s rim instead of on the dice, the defence line names both sums (“9 against Wren’s 19”), the round says whose turn it is, and Throw again no longer looks like the main button. Commands show their key on focus and in their tooltip.
  • Shield keys follow the language (O, M, U in German), hit zones are called zones, and tablets show the fighters side by side. A die that misses a combination by one wobbles once more.
  • Hit zones are aimed in the tray itself, where the dice were, and start in the best order for your target; swap two only when you disagree. The dice show once, not twice.
  • On a phone the turn sits right under the words: Attack across the whole width, then Hold back, Skills, Things and more in one row; tricks scroll in one row. The latest line in the battle takes two lines instead of being cut off.
  • The dice tray says what it is waiting for (“move your shield, then take it”), names what parries (“a run or three of a kind”), labels your own throw when another lies above it, and lists your weapon’s bonus in the Combinations table. Screen readers hear your throw with its dice and sum.
  • Dice Duel’s first fight is simpler: tricks are handed out at the tables that teach them. In German the words are tidier (“ein Paar”, “Fertigkeiten” everywhere), and the top bar’s values have clear gaps between their words.
  • The dice roll on a tray of their own (felt, wood or stone, by dice style) and stay on it: they no longer fly over buttons, words or the fighters. They slow down as they roll and settle without a jolt, and the page no longer jumps while they are in the air.
  • The throw for who starts shows its dice before the story says who starts. A click on Attack while the dice still land now lands them and attacks, and Enter always works. Your turn’s buttons wait until the dice are down, then Attack glows once.
  • Every combination has its own colour and sound, the last die slows down only when something rare can come, a hit lands on the fighter and a blocked throw bounces back, and big moments stay a breath longer. The cup fits the dice and takes their colour.
  • Combinations count in defence too: Brace, Footwork, Riposte, Disarm and Perfect guard, by default after holding back. When both throws show a combination, they clash. A foe can have a set of its own; the book prints the defence table.
  • Two dice no longer count as a run; a run needs at least three. A defence that turns an attack away stays a moment longer, and a defence without armour no longer shows "+ armour 0".
  • Every combination now does something of its own: a pair ignores 2 armour, a run deals +2 and keeps the initiative, three of a kind is a critical hit, two pairs cost the foe a die and four of a kind deals double damage. Hitting in a row builds momentum.
  • The dice tray explains itself: a Combinations table with the chance of each, a preview of what your attack will do, what a parry needs, "One away from a run!", and the shield placed on your best die as a suggestion.
  • A foe that throws face down shows one of its dice, and foes can give their dice away with a tell ("Crown Smash ready: needs a 6"). The cup now covers only the hidden dice.
  • After a run you can "Extend the run": throw one more die, and if it continues the run it grows and hits harder.
  • A fight can use the game's dice rules, its own, or no dice; the editor shows how often a foe's Armour blocks, and warns when no combination is on or a foe blocks almost every throw. A value such as Strength can be added to every throw.
  • Fixed: during "Throw for who starts" the story's choices stayed clickable under the battle and could leave the fight. Also fixed: a die spent on a skill no longer hits its zone, and with hit zones a counter attack is won zone by zone.
  • Try it in Dice Duel against the Wyvern and the Rat King. Optional: dice battles without it play as before.

In dice battles the foe's throw now lies in the dice tray: while you throw to defend you see his attack above your own dice, and afterwards both stand side by side with the result ("14 vs 10 + armour 2: 2 damage"). · 23 changes

Updates that day: A run of three · See the throw you face · Hidden dice · Replies that stay, found at once · Options to passages you already have · Dice tricks · Real dice, and who starts · Defend with your own dice · Gentler critical throws · Your own throw in the log · Dice battles to try · Lighter games, keys for your own tools · Games that remember, pages that invite · A lore book that fills itself · Fights that end without a fall · Fights that belong to their scene · Larger text on large screens, quicker shared links · A map that stays put, and a first game without surprises

Battles

  • In dice battles the foe's throw now lies in the dice tray: while you throw to defend you see his attack above your own dice, and afterwards both stand side by side with the result ("14 vs 10 + armour 2: 2 damage"). Hidden dice show their backs. A look can turn it off with "Show the opponent's dice".
  • With "Hide the attack dice" a foe's attack lies face down while you defend: you throw your defence without knowing what you face, then both are revealed. New tricks: "Peek at one die", "Peek at the whole throw", "+ to your dice" and "− to the opponent's dice".
  • Skills and things can now change dice in dice battles: throw one die again, turn one up or down, turn one to six, add a die, stop the opponent from throwing again, or make the opponent's combination not count. Use them on your own throw before attacking, or on a foe's attack while it waits ("Take it" lets it land).
  • The dice in dice battles now look like dice, with pips. A look can show numbered faces instead ("Dice": "Pips" or "Numbers" in the look's battle settings).
  • With "Throw for who starts" a dice battle opens with a throw you make yourself: the higher sum takes the first turn, so a fight never begins with a blow you could not answer. On in Dice Duel.
  • Dice battles can use "Defence throws": the defender throws its own dice, and an attack must beat that sum plus the armour. With "Parry with a rarer combination" a better combination stops the attack completely, and "Counter damage" hits back. With "Throw to defend by click" you throw your defence yourself when a foe attacks.
  • A first version of dice battles: with "Attacks are dice throws" every attack throws 3 or 4 dice against the defender's "Armour", and combinations add to it: a pair cannot be blocked, a run hits harder, three of a kind is critical and wounds. Rerolls let you keep dice and throw the rest again.
  • Try it in the new demo "Dice Duel": four fights with different dice settings, from the first throw to the Dice King. In the editor, "Dice battles" sits in the battle rules (full view) and shows each combination's chance beside it. Optional: every other battle plays as before.
  • A foe can have "Morale": scaring, bargaining or a scene action lowers it, and when it runs low the foe flees, gives up or joins your party. A battle can then go on its own way: "When a foe gave up", "When a foe joined you", "When the foes fled". In the Ember Road, the Cinder Imp gives up when you choose "Hold up the Sealed Ember".
  • A wound can outlast its battle: a status set to last "After the battle" stays until the next rest or until something removes it, shows in the party menu, and a companion who "Sits out battles" waits until it heals. In the Ember Road the wolf's bite leaves Rhea wounded until the camp.
  • An encounter can offer up to three actions written for its scene ("Cut the chandelier rope", "Throw river mud on its embers"): each takes a turn, may be once per battle or need a condition, and prints in the book as its own choice. In the Ember Road and the Sunken Choir.
  • A foe can announce its next move in words ("The bruiser draws back his club"), so you answer it instead of guessing; the line is translated, in the voice script and read out before each round in the printed book.
  • Dice battles can count any three dice in a row as a run, with four dice too (1-2-3-6): "A run needs" "Three in a row" instead of "All dice in a row". The editor shows the new chance beside it. On in Dice Duel's Four Dice fight.
  • Dice Duel is back with all its fights after an update had left it out.
  • Try it in Dice Duel against the Masked Gambler, with Wren's Glass Eye, Lucky Charm and Hooded Lantern. Optional: dice battles without it play as before.
  • Foes cheat too: in Dice Duel the new Cheating Croupier rerolls your pairs and spoils your throws, and Wren carries a Loaded Bone and a Steady Hand. In the editor a "Dice trick" is an effect of a skill or a thing (full view); battles without tricks play as before.
  • Try it in Dice Duel against the new Fencing Master: four dice on both sides, parries and counters. All of it is optional; dice battles without it play as before.
  • In dice battles a critical throw now adds 50 % damage instead of doubling it, so one lucky throw no longer ends a fight at once. A writer can set the extra percent per combination; other battles are unchanged.
  • In dice battles your own throw now stands in the battle log like the foe's ("Wren throws 1 · 2 · 1: a pair — cannot be blocked, 4 against armour 8: 1 damage"), and a throw that does not beat the armour says "blocked" instead of "misses".
  • A value can fill up during a fight ("Refills in battle"), a little each round and more when defending, so big attacks have a price you pay back by waiting. Tomas in the Sunken Choir has Focus for his "Harpoon Volley".
  • All three are optional and in the full view: battles without them play exactly as before. The printed book has a morale box beside the foe and boxes for wounds on the adventure sheet.
  • Both are optional: battles without them play exactly as before. The editor has them in the full view: "Scene actions" on an encounter, "told as" on an enemy's behaviour row.
  • The battle in three steps: "Hard" is really harder than "Fair", and a fair first battle is one a fresh hero usually wins. A defeated hero is no longer asked for a target.

Planned turns say whose plan you make ("Planning: Aldo"), show each action's time, keep one layout, and Play the round has its own key (P); on a phone everything fits and every card is large enough to tap. · 4 changes

Updates that day: The writing view in your words, and a book you can play · Games that pick up where you left them · Writing that never loses a word · Projects come first, and come back · The map keeps still · Saved battles go on · Help for the new ways of writing · Writing on, faster

Battles

  • Planned turns say whose plan you make ("Planning: Aldo"), show each action's time, keep one layout, and Play the round has its own key (P); on a phone everything fits and every card is large enough to tap.
  • A game saved in a battle goes on after you switch that battle between taking turns and planned turns: the round in progress ends as it began, the next one follows your change.
  • The party's bars beside a battle follow the fight; a fighter felled at the end of a round no longer counts its statuses down.
  • Levels: the experience for enemies is a simple number, "XP per level of the enemy".

Battles with their windows at the bottom show each foe with its gauge, and the commands take the foes’ window’s place while you choose. · 4 changes

Updates that day: More from a deck · A steadier test play · Every look, clean at every size · Decks and lists · Recordings from the studio · Options that scroll show it · Planned turns and combos · Finished looks and “I want…”

Battles

  • Battles with their windows at the bottom show each foe with its gauge, and the commands take the foes’ window’s place while you choose. On a large screen fighters’ pictures and numbers grow with the window.
  • Planned turns: a new turn order in Battle rules. Each round, players plan a chain of actions for every fighter within a time per round, see what the foes intend, then Play the round; one fight can be planned while the rest of the game keeps its turn order.
  • Combos: a skill can follow another (the fighter’s own or an ally’s) for a bonus when it comes right after it. The Sunken Choir’s fight in the choir loft is planned: strike on Sera’s note.
  • A skill gets a time on its page; the win-rate check and the book understand planned battles.

Add a battle in three steps from a passage: who fights, against whom, and how hard — then the battle is in place, with how often your hero wins in plain words. · 6 changes

Updates that day: Look in pictures, a battle in three steps · Conversations inside a passage, and a manuscript · A book that always prints · Updates you do not notice · Battles that fit, a full-screen test play · What you test is what players see · Battles on every page layout · Cleaner screens at every size

Battles

  • Add a battle in three steps from a passage: who fights, against whom, and how hard — then the battle is in place, with how often your hero wins in plain words.
  • Battles fit the window in every layout, also after a long story: every fighter, their names and the commands in view, nothing under a bar.
  • In battles with the windows at the bottom, the commands sit in one box beside the party’s window.
  • A fighter’s numbers stay on one line, also on a phone.
  • Battle buttons keep their labels on one line; a button that does not fit moves to a second row.
  • On a fixed screen whose picture is small, like the gamebook page, a battle now takes the page’s free room, so every fighter shows with name and bar.

Ask for help: a new button beside Help answers “how do I…?” questions in a few steps, each with Show me, which opens the right place and marks the field. · 6 changes

Updates that day: Battles in the middle of the picture · Smaller pictures, smaller dialogue — if you like · Your first battle, step by step · Your heroes show in battle · The help answers in full · Ask for help while you make your game · Whole lines, a fourth cursor set, a smaller story engine · Phones read from the top, new cursor sets, steadier stories · Lighter games, AI activity and a calmer simple view · Easier to read, fairer statistics, a calmer editor · Frames for the dialogue box, and clearer settings · Cursors, sharing to the library and seeing every screen size

Battles

  • On a full picture with the foes in front, the fighters now stand together in the middle, your hero a little larger, the commands right beside them.
  • In battles with the foes in front, the fighters’ pictures grow with the screen, and the battle shows the last lines of the round, so you see your own hits.
  • On phones, the battle’s buttons and Undo last choice no longer cover anything.
  • A first battle is easier to build: after switching Battles on, a link leads to the example fight; a fight not used yet offers Put it in the story; a lost battle goes to your Defeat ending.
  • In battles with the foes in front, your party’s pictures now show in their boxes below the foes; before, only the foes had pictures.
  • Battles: all actions stay in view at 1280 × 720, and a foe shows its cursor while you aim.