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Sneak Peek (and Combat Updates)
🕑 Added 2018-06-30 16:30:50 +0000 UTC Greetings!I'm in the middle of a cross-country move right now, so I haven't made as much progress as I'd wanted, but I still got quite a bit done. I managed to get all the renders done before I had to break down my monstrosity of a desktop, and I've been feverishly attacking the postwork in the evenings in my hotel (I'm currently writing from the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. I guess that could describe a lot of Wyoming, but this isn't one of the pretty parts :/ ).
I've included a sneak peek at one of 0.6's scenes above. As you'd probably guessed from my earlier posts, one of the scenes involves Val, and I wanted to give you guys a teaser! As I'd mentioned elsewhere, I'm using a new rendering technique and some new postwork techniques, and I think the images look better. Not a night and day difference I suppose, but noticeably better in my eyes.
I've also continued work on the new classes and revamping the combat system. Though the game isn't combat-centric, I wanted the combat that is there to have a bit of depth, and I'm ready to share some of what I've been working on. The basic idea is that I'm trying to provide meaningful choices between abilities and keep things from getting boring.
One way I'll be doing this is through the use of 'procs'. Procs - short for Pseudo-random occurrences - should be a familiar concept if you've played MMOs, but if not, I'll give a brief rundown. In a nutshell, sometimes when you perform certain actions, something interesting will happen. The enemy might get an extra zap, or you might temporarily gain a buff or ability. That ability is said to have 'procced'. How often that 'sometimes' occurs is controlled by some parameter that isn't always transparent to the player.
In 0.6, I'm experimenting with granting the PC a special flash heal that sometimes procs - when it does, you can cast it instantly, without consuming your turn, meaning you could heal two targets in one turn. Also, for Cory (the rogue), I'm looking at giving him an ability that sometimes procs on an enemy, which would let him either stun the target or perform a really powerful attack.
"Oh," you might say, "you're just introducing RNG (randomness) into the game." Well, kind of, but though these abilities proc (pseudo-) randomly, I want to give the player a bit of choice in when they actually use them. I'm currently experimenting with giving you 3 turns in which to use a procced ability, which would let you employ it with a bit of strategy!
I've never played a Warlock, but whenever I think 'lock', I think of those old "more DoTs!" Onyxia raid videos, so I'm making Val's abilities mostly centered around DoTs. DoTs - short for Damage Over Time - periodically deal damage to the enemy, usually expiring after a set period unless refreshed. As I've implemented them, Val's DoTs stack, up to a certain maximum. Val can also consume all stacks of DoTs on a target to do certain things, like blast the heck out of a target, or perform an AoE attack against all enemies.
I'm doing similar things with some of the other characters, except Shiri. I plan on keeping Shiri really simple to play, as well as giving her really high damage (though she'll be a bit squishy).
Hopefully this will help make combat fun and interesting! I'm sure I'll end up having to tweak things later, but I think I've got the core of something fun here. To reiterate, though, the game will continue to be not-combat-centric, but I may include some optional arenas and stuff for people who really like it.
The move will be done early this week, and then it's full steam ahead. Thank you for your support!
Comments
PaddyOFurniture
If she sees Alex as a pet her attitude might be one of more benign condescension. " Who's a cute widdle hooman? You are! Yes you are!"
Proxxie
Interesting idea.
PaddyOFurniture
If she sees Alex as a slave and wants to put her in her place she might just call Alex 'Slave'. It's more dehumanizing. If she sees Alex as a pet like a poodle or a Shih Tzu she might give Alex an annoyingly cutsy name like 'Muffin' or 'Goldy' [for her coat].
OhioOkie
From what I understand elves considers humans as slaves. But if they do consider humans as lesser beings then maybe a pet but a trained pet like a dog or an organ grinder's monkey.
PaddyOFurniture
I'd think that would depend on whether Val sees Alex as a slave or as a kind of pet.
OhioOkie
I don't want the tables turned on Val soon. I am sure Jan doesn't know how to handle a slave. The elves in the city would see that easily. Not in 0.6 but later Val and other probably would almost insist in terms that would be hard to refuse that they would train Alex for Jan, while letting Jan see how "real" slaves are treated and command. Then when the two are reunited people would be watching to see their behavior. Also, Val might take Alex out on a mission as support and probably give him a name more pleasing to her and to emphasize his status.
PaddyOFurniture
Mind you, it's most likely that she's just telling Alex to give her a pedicure or a foot massage.
Maybe some more dialogue that kind of expands on the story and/or relationships?
PaddyOFurniture
The curse of empathy.
PaddyOFurniture
It might just be the sudden realization that other people are actually real. That epiphany along with the sudden understanding of the reality of how she's been treating people all her life might be punishment enough.
PaddyOFurniture
There's no point in humiliating people who are nothing to begin with.
PaddyOFurniture
I get the impression that Val doesn't think she needs to command people to kiss her foot. I think to her people kissing her foot is just the natural order of things.
Proxxie
You'll probably get that opportunity at some point ;)
Hoping there's a way to turn the tables on Val, I'm not really into all that but turnabout is always fair play.
Proxxie
I'm a bit torn on that. It seems a waste to make an interesting combat system only to use it on weak enemies; it's rather like buying a Maserati only to slowly drive it to church and back. I don't want the game to be too focused on combat, though. Many folks seem to regard its relative lack of combat as a virtue. Perhaps the answer is hard modes for dungeons? The only problem I have with this is that I wouldn't know what reward to give. I don't want to hide H-scenes behind hard modes and I'm not sure what other kind of reward would make sense within the context of the game.
Im pretty hyped I was hoping for more of Val... we need to try on her dresses after all.
I'm pretty sure she's commanding him to kiss her foot.
Nina888
Yummy ^^ i see a way for alex to become the slave of Val and have a nice slave outfit in the futur !
OhioOkie
I like the concept in the combat. One game I played had the main characters the ability to sexually distract the opponents. Basically make them miss a turn or weaken an attack... Now is that Alex painting Val's toes?
Make sure you make the enemies harder as well! The mechanics sound interesting, but it's useless if I can just autoattack them to death! Make this game challenging please~ :)
