Friday 4 October 2013

Update Posted!

Check out the new update on the Downloads page!

Lots of new features, changes, and tweaks.
I can't even remember them all, so a few may be missing from the patch notes.

I'm going to explain the changes again.

 New Lock Picking:
 I am very happy with the way this one worked out.
 The general idea is to move the pick into the holes in the plates, and then drag them to the nxt hole, resulting in a clear line of plates so you can cut the rope at the end, before the two mechanisms on the side click into place.
 I find this one far better then the last minigame, for a few reasons.
 Firstly, it looks far better. Instead of a ugly rope and giant green triangle, there is fluff and flavor to the appearance, making it look and feel like lock picking. The turning gears and spinning chains I am happy with.
 Secondly, and more importantly, it's proactive rather than reactive. This means that the fast you are, the fast it ends. This was a problem simply because waiting for the ropes to fall in the old game was tedious and unenjoyable, and was (I hope) the reason most people would have rather not had the minigame.
 The new one is also quicker, because again you're not waiting for ropes.

 The Trap minigame is often the first thing people see, and it's old, cheap, appearance may have turned a good few people off. I hope that will not be an issue from here on.

Critical Strikes:

The idea here was to make Perception an appealing stat, and I thought the best way to do it was to add an old RPG staple. I'm watching this closely because it makes perception FAR stronger, and possibly too strong.
 It does make combat a little less predictable.

 Mushroom Spores:
 You won't know what I mean until you've checked it out, but Spore Sluts will inflict you with a status effect now. They have a chance to every time they inflict any number of damage to you.
 This is just a start. I'd like to have interesting status effects spread out to a variety of enemies. With the current enemy count I feel that 1 is enough. When there's more, I'll add more. Hopefully it will be as obvious as what the Sporesluts do.
 (Also, before you accuse me of favoritism with the Spore Sluts... you're absolutely right. They're my favorite creature still. Since I wrote them myself and they are creative.)

 Numbers and Random:
 The idea to add the numbers that popup to tell you how much damage was done was actually an offshoot of critical strikes. The random varience in numbers was likewise possible because of the changes I made that allow critical strikes.
 I'm hoping these make it a little less 'cut and dry', where you can know you do 5 damage, see an enemy with 10 health, and hit him twice every time.
 It does add a random luck element to otherwise skill-based combat, but I don't consider this a problem as it is minor.


9 comments:

  1. Love the new trap mini game. Now I don't avoid traps when detecting them.
    Also the fighting graphics are looking pretty awesome. Game is getting better and better.

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  2. I also like the new trap minigame much more than the previous one. However, there seems to be a bug; when I succeed JUST before I would have run out of time, some of the pieces seem to not fall apart, and the game gets stuck, requiring a restart. This has happened twice for me, in the half hour or so I've been playing the new build, so it shouldn't be too hard to reproduce.

    As always, thanks for all the hard work. Loving the game so far.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks to the specific report, I was able to find the bug and I believe I have fixed it.

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  3. There appears to be a minor bug in the new, much improved, trap game. I love the game, but if I finish the trap at the same time that the trap is being sprung, the game locks up.

    It's happened twice. The gears start falling, but one of the trippers has reached the top and does not fall. I don't recall if the first time this happened the trippers fell, but the last time the right-side tripper remained at the top of the chains while the left-side tripper fell along with the gears.

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    Replies
    1. This report was likewise specific and helpful.

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  4. Okay the lock picking is great - I really like the way you have done this now. The last one was okay - I liked it - but this in fact does require a little more skill. Might I suggest that you make them harder for certain traps? Also, would it be possible to offer this up in the chests also? Randomly have some of the chests trapped, so that to open them (if you notice) you have to untrap them?

    Again I love the way you are moving with this game - lovely work - and thank you for the time and effort you put into it.

    I do plan on getting you some additions soonish (sorry work has really wiped out my time :( )

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  5. Here's a strange bug.

    When you equip the Leech Lord Full Plate it places a Top Hat of Infinite Greed in your inventory. You can do this multiple times.

    Of course, it really does you no good because the shopkeeper won't pay you for them. Which brings up another little strangeness, in that the shopkeeper doesn't appear to purchase any item which has once been equipped. That is, if you equip an item, find something better, and un-equip it, the shopkeeper doesn't want it. Maybe she doesn't like used goods, or the character needs a shower. It doesn't really matter to the game, there is enough loot that throwing away used items isn't a problem.

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    Replies
    1. Those are all bugs.
      I've fixed both, so they will be working fine next update.
      I do have a few other things to work on before I can release it though.

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  6. Nothing wrong with being biased toward Spore Sluts, since they're definitely the best enemy in the game :)

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