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[Kinasin]

Looks nice. 

[JigxorAndy]

Looks nice. 

Thank you.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 217
* Changed lots of game icons/buttons and UI
* Worked on a new level from one of Steve's designs
* Tweaked how map titles and descriptions are loaded and unlocked



I'd like to release a new build in the next few days. Really I just need to build a few more levels and it should be possible to play through them, beating one level and unlocking the next. It certainly feels more like a game now.

Current problems:
1. Sometimes when there aren't many enemies around it can almost feel like a bit of a chore to move the heroes since there are four of them and you generally want to be close to a door before opening it. I'm thinking that I might have some kind of mechanic that allows you to move your heroes to the same spot, say, right before opening a door. There are problems with balance and stuff then however - my main concern being that it gets your characters out of sticky situations (imagine one hero escaping from traps easily by just teleporting to another hero). To combat this there would need to be some restrictions - perhaps you need line of sight from hero to hero, or perhaps you need a clear path. Alternatively I could have some kind of "leader" system where you can only jump to the leader hero of a party - that could affect gameplay quite a bit however.

2. I haven't put enough thought into the end objectives for each level. Besides killing all of the enemies, some of the other end goals are a bit more complicated to code and I'm not sure how they will look visually either. For example, if there's a level where you're required to pull a lever to beat the level (to agree thematically with some storyline element), it would look strange if the level just finished as soon as you pull the lever, so I'll probably need to implement some kind of pop-up textbox feature to add a bit more context and storyline for events such as that.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 218
* Changed the way tiles are loaded, allowing a more flexible system and letting me build levels quicker (all internal stuff). Also built a tool to help me keep up with new tiles being added by Philip
* Added credits screen. I'm using a fair bit of Creative Commons licensed stuff right now as placeholder, such as Lorc's icons. So I want to attribute it in a more prominent place than the readme.txt file.
* Built a new level
* Added metal gates which can be triggered by floor plates and levers. Will allow for more complex traps and unlocking secret areas.

[Uykered]

For the issue of the movement chore: If you can't come up with a way to make it fit within the logic of the game, perhaps consider it being a Wizard skill/spell. Like it might teleport all people to the wizard or all heroes to a target point in sight, but it might have to be "channelled" so the players will be disabled for 1 or 2 turns and if there are any monsters nearby then they'll be able to hurt you.

[JigxorAndy]

For the issue of the movement chore: If you can't come up with a way to make it fit within the logic of the game, perhaps consider it being a Wizard skill/spell. Like it might teleport all people to the wizard or all heroes to a target point in sight, but it might have to be "channelled" so the players will be disabled for 1 or 2 turns and if there are any monsters nearby then they'll be able to hurt you.

A skill could work but it still might be a little slow for the player to do at times. I don't think it's so much about making the game fair as it is about making it convenient to move around. There is "Free Move" now so when there are no enemies around your action points don't really matter. I'd sacrifice thematic logic if it was easier to get from A to B.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 219
* Added exit portals (On many levels these are the tiles you need to get your heroes to in order to beat the level - "the exit")
* Finished building a new level
* Fixed music not playing after level complete and returning to lobby
* Fixed screen gamescale changing on returning to main menu
* Added metadata editor to map editor (for internal use)
* Modified weapon damage (still needs tweaking - will get overhaul later)

Here is a screenshot of the heroes beating the level by reaching the end portals. The portals (circles) are temporary art by me. I'll ask Philip to do something cool soon. Some sort of glowing tile would look best I think.



As for the teleporting/movement problem I was talking about yesterday, I came up with a solution that might work. Basically you would be able to teleport everyone to the current hero but only during Free Move. Therefore you can only do it when you're out of combat and since you have to teleport everyone then there's a tradeoff: if you're not careful you may teleport them to a dangerous location.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 220
* Posted new job for pixel artists on Pixelation
* Fixed bug with gold collection
* Added new shadows from tiles
* Started work on Castle level (below)

New level I'm working on:



If you're interested in working on this project as a pixel artist, please checkout the job posting.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 223
* Added Ice Bolt skill. Shoots an icebolt which encases an enemy in ice, freezing their movement for one turn.



I tried to upload a new gameplay video today but the sound didn't work properly! It was super loud. However, a friend is doing a YouTube let's play of a new version soon.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 224

New gameplay video released:





The build featured in the video is now available for those who have purchased.

You can purchase Dungeon Dashers and get access to the in-development builds at: http://www.dungeondashers.com

[Inanimate]

I love the geriatric shuffle all the units have right now. 

No, but really -- this looks amazing, and it seems downright fun, too. Good work. I eagerly look forward to release. 

[JigxorAndy]

I love the geriatric shuffle all the units have right now. 

No, but really -- this looks amazing, and it seems downright fun, too. Good work. I eagerly look forward to release. 

Thank you! I'm glad that it looks fun

I agree that there is a bit of a geriatric shuffle going on! I'm trying to work out ways to make moving 4 characters from A to B less of a chore. At this stage I think it will either involve allowing them to 'teleport' to a certain character when no enemies are around, or have them follow a character. Either way, they would be optional so you wouldn't be forced to do it if it was a really tactical situation.

[Franklin's Ghost]

Haven't checked this out in awhile but the gameplay is looking really nice. Liking the video and tactics used to pass the level

[JigxorAndy]

Day 226
* Added particle effects to icebolts
* Added End Of Level Stats

A friend is doing some UI concepts, as well as doing some of the effects such as the ice bolt. Here is the progression of the UI designs that he's come up with and that we've been discussing:

Haven't checked this out in awhile but the gameplay is looking really nice. Liking the video and tactics used to pass the level

Thanks! The game is actually going to get a lot more tactical (or "allow" you to be more tactical). The players will have many more skills, and some of the levels will be quite diverse. It's still very hack and slashy - which some levels will be - but I aim to put a lot of depth into some upcoming levels.

[Uykered]

Oh nice, that's pretty cool, I really like the current design!

Are the boxes between the HP and AP bar the turn order boxes? I'm assuming that at that length you'd be including enemies beside the players cause theres so many?

Is the freemove icon also the button for teleporting, or did you change your mind on that mechanic? Also do you think you'll put an icon for ending turn  (for mouse reasons)?

[JigxorAndy]

Oh nice, that's pretty cool, I really like the current design!

Are the boxes between the HP and AP bar the turn order boxes? I'm assuming that at that length you'd be including enemies beside the players cause theres so many?

Is the freemove icon also the button for teleporting, or did you change your mind on that mechanic? Also do you think you'll put an icon for ending turn  (for mouse reasons)?

The current design is awesome, but there's a lot more information that needs to be displayed and I don't think I'm able to adapt the current design to fit it all. One of the main things is that the current design isn't showing the enemy turns, which I think is an important element when there's a lot on screen and you don't know when you'll be able to move next.

I was thinking the same thing about making the freemove icon into a button for teleporting! Double use. This UI layout also has mouse controls in mind as well with some more 'button' elements.

I'll probably not have the map there all the time. I think that might be changed into a dropdown so that it's there optionally. I don't think a map will be that necessary all the time for the game, it might be good to look at now and then.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 229
* Added global quests system - things to do on any level
* Designed new equipment system

Too exhausted to discuss it more as it's 5:13AM!

[JigxorAndy]

Day 231
* Designed new equipment

Over the past few days I've been doing a lot of design work, which is why there haven't been so many feature/coding updates. I've developed a new equipment system where skills are no longer tied to items and you choose your skills separately. And I've been doing a lot of work on paper to figure out how many items are required and what their properties will be. Additionally I've been working closely with Philip and a new artist Chris Pariano who is working on new sprites for equipment.

Here is Chris' work on a sword and a cloak:



The design of the sword is a reference to a movie! Bonus points to whoever can work out where it's from. Hint: look at the handle.

I'm excited to put a lot of new items and progression into coming builds.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 232
* imported new equipment assets
* changed equipment and skill selection system (required a lot of refactoring)
* weapon and equipment design
* skill design (there are about 7 unique skills per character planned now)
* added options screen and ability to control music volume with a slider

Here is what the new layout for the equipment/loadout screen is like:


With this new system, skills are no longer tied to items. Instead you choose 3 items and 3 skills. There were going to be many balancing problems and also simple restrictions that would have occurred using the old system. I'm happy with the design of the new system and I'm excited to have some art in there by Chris.

I started the day doing a lot of design of the new equipment system, including fleshing out a whole bunch of items and their general stats. I also worked out many of the skills for the heroes. You'll be able to see briefly in the screenshot that there are a bunch of stats. These have come about from thinking about how the items will affect the heroes, as well as different scenarios. Some levels may have lots of witches and elemental creatures, so it might be a good idea to use armour with magic resist. Some other levels might have lots of weak enemies, so you'd be best to buff your Action Points to allow for many moves. I'm hoping each item is quite unique and has a situation where it would be best used.

It took a long time to code the new system in and a lot of refactoring of old code, but it works now.

Tomorrow I'll tighten up this and import some more of Philip's assets including tiles and some entities that have been lying around such as the bookcase.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 233
* Made new equipment/skill selection more polished and fixed many bugs. All item/skill selection stuff is now very functional.
* Imported new tiles for the castle levels
* Added bookshelf (can be destroyed like a crate)
* Added new columns for the castle
* Updated level editor to handle new tiles and objects

A neater looking screen for choosing a weapon, but still programmer art:



Big things to tackle soon:
1. Implement new Speed system. This system involves giving each player and enemy a speed stat which determines turn order, where as the current system = all players move then all enemies move. I think this may need some refactoring since the game is structured to work with "enemy turn" state and "player turn" state. (The currently disabled multiplayer backend will need to be recoded as well most likely).
2. Teleport party to surrounding tiles. This is a feature I've been thinking about for over a week now. There's still too much idle walking, so it would be good to be able to bring your party members with you right before you open a door. I have another idea that would work well in multiplayer but is a pain to code with the current engine: Simultaneous Free Move! I think that it would be cool if you're able to walk around freely during multiplayer at the same time as other players when there are no enemies around. This means you could all go around and pickup gold faster, pull levers, etc. There are a fair few synchronization issues with the current state-based network code, but it would be worth it. It would give the game another reason to play online, where as in singleplayer you'd be forced to move characters one by one, or use the less efficient (but still useful) teleport system.
3. Crafting. This should be relatively easy to code I think. It's mostly user interface stuff and content - i.e. working out what unlocks what.


Chris is working on more awesome items.

Philip (Dusty) is working on a boulder to fall from traps and run down narrow corridors like in Indiana Jones.