Welcome back or welcome for the first time!

Development has been moving forward on a variety of features. There’s plenty to dive into this year, so let’s dive right in!

Last Year Recap (2021)

• Ritehaven Revamp
• Mudslide ability
• Detonate bot ability
• Harmzone (first ability variant)
• Editor inspectors
• NPCS & Dialogue
• Test of Alacrity (new testing map)
• Avatar Variety
• SFX & Music System

During 2022

• New Ability: Ironwright
  • Create heavy shields that block attacks, or throw them at foes.

• New Ability: Hydrosurge
  • Call a powerful wave of water, ride it into battle, or jump off after aiming it at an enemy.
• New boss Detonate ability variants
  • Tempest: Dodge the several nearby lightning strikes. Variant inspired by Heigan the Unclean boss encounter
  • Ensnare: Large zone that’ll root you in place.
  • Vortex: Large zone that pulses rapidly damaging and pulling you into the center.
• Ability Update: Rush & Flurry
  • Rush: Same as before
  • Flurry: Tumble has been replaced with a short ranged melee attack.
    • 3 Hits: Gain a short 30% dash and jump bonus
    • 5 Hits: Heal 5 HP
    • 7 Hits: Deal 7 bonus damage and heavy knockback
• ~45-50 ability and character modifying Rituals
  • (New) Ironwright, Rush, Mudslide, Void Zone, Flamewheel, Air Slash, etc.
  • (Redesigns) Bramble, Starfall, Water Shield, Pyroclasm, etc.
  • Choice selection provides a way to gain Rituals.
  • Created rituals for abilities that lacked them.

• NPC & Bot Avatars
  • Added the Wraiths (Male & Female)
    • 6 color palettes for each
    • 100% animation complete (shares player animations)
  • Added Molten Elemental (30% of needed animations)
  • Water and Earth elementals (up to 75% of needed animations)
• Character controller improvements
  • Ledge climb improvements
  • Platforms with one directional jumpthrough support (called Astral platforms)

• Volcanic Island beautification
  • Beautiful wave hazard
  • Cliff face, foliage, color balancing
  • Cute relaxed wind swirls (also added to Cliffside)

• Level design elements
  • Beautiful Astral platform shader effect (jumpthroughs)
  • Jump-pads & bounding zones
  • Haste zones & tokens

• Bot Behavior (this will get another Bot AI blog post later)
  • Aggro & non-omniscience target detection
  • Patrols networks including wander, loiter, hiding
  • Playbooks to allow for syntax specific behavior like seeking health tokens and changing strategies like seeking the high ground or avoiding close combat.

• Physics Refactor
  • Fully reimplement all gameplay abilities using a new PhysicsRequest system, so abilities can efficiently query for collisions on any entities, and react accordingly.
  • Built editor tooling for testing and diagnosing collision detection issues
  • Can handle multiple collider entities (like Bosses) as well as Props.
  • Gameplay code can branch depending on the type of item hit.
  • Can request different physics evaluations, cylinders, cones, explosions, nearest, etc.

• Props
  • Props are non-character entities that players and bots can attack or manipulate.
    • Physics Props: Objects to knock around the stage
    • Immobile & Superdense Props: Not moveable, but possibly destroyable
    • Reset Switches: Hit a prop to reset items, or cause game events
    • Explosive Barrel: Deal AOE damage, knockback and maybe status effects.

• Interface
  • Pause Menu
    • Settings Menu: Good
      • Dev
      • Audio
      • Controls
      • Gameplay
    • Loadout Selector (can be disabled when not appropriate)
    • Key Rebinding
    • Codex
      • Abilities: Abilities and usage tips
      • Rituals: See the descriptions and requirements for each ritual
      • Trials: View description and enemy counts of each existing trial.
  • Objective Display
    • A necessary UI element for the changing gameplay objectives during gauntlet mode.
    • Time limit, survival, quell, collection, traversal, Rite mode, defend location
• Mountains of bug fixes
• Waves of refactors to allow for better content & gameplay development

In Progress

• Tutorial
  • The game needs better onboarding for core systems and narrative.
  • A system of sequenced beats and requirements to progress is needed and in development

• Roguelike Mode
  • Choice Selectors
    • Make choices during a run, to gain abilities, rituals or boons. 
    • Not all choices are beneficial, some come with downsides, so pick your poison.
  • Boons
    • A system for gaining stat increases over the course of a run. You’ll also encounter some stat decreases depending on your favor with the gods.
  • [Benched] Gauntlet Generation
    • Generation is seeded.
    • The first version had certain complex problems. Gauntlets require certain structural options, avoiding repetition while also accounting for different choices along the way.
    • I began a second iteration, but it is a behemoth of a programming & data problem to do well. It will likely come after other functional aspects (props & bosses) and writing tasks are done (core narrative and tutorialization)

Upcoming

These are things I want to work on next year, this isn’t any sort of promise these will get done and in.

• Lore & Worldbuilding. The game has enough gameplay content. I need to get to telling the story of how things work
• More Prop event functionality, like props that unlock pathways, prevent resources, or that must be protected while bots attack them.
• Interesting and working gauntlet mode. With story & meta progression
• More new abilities & rituals. This is a given, it’s what I enjoy building the most
• Interface improvements and polish.
• Start development of the first boss fight
• Commission paid ‘fanart’ from 2D artists
• Commission some work from 3D environment artists to improve look & feel.
• A Youtube Channel. I want to migrate away from Twitter and this is a way to