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[JigxorAndy]

Day 268
* Implemented Skill UI
* Fixed bug in new level
* Fixed bugs with blinking onto objects

I play tested the new level that I'd created with two friends today. It seemed too hard, brutal and unfair.

The game overall isn't feeling as fun as I want it to. It's a good game, but it's not GREAT yet. There isn't a lot of stuff that jumps out and makes you really excited or say "wow". Little bit disheartened, but I will press on until it is more fun.

I'm thinking I might recruit some help for the level development so that I can focus on improving the game features itself.

New Skills UI (works for any number of skills):

[JigxorAndy]

The Knight also has 3 newly drawn skills by Chris. I think they are spectacular, especially the detail on the arms and hand.

You are right, they are awesome!

Chris reads the blog too and I'm sure he appreciates comments like this (Philip reads it too!)

[JigxorAndy]

Dungeon Dashers Build 271 Is Ready!

"game feels 100% somethinger"

Main Changes:
* Loads of bugfixes and polish tweaks
* User Interface Artwork
* Different weapons, armour and equipment with unique stats
* Craftable equipment
* Loads of new skills
* New turn system based on a "speed" attribute
* New levels
* Global Quests System (one quest right now to kill 3 enemies)
* Critical hits (extra damage for attacks in the back)
* Health bars displayed for all enemies and players (Press and hold Tab)

Everyone who has purchased the game so far has access to this in development build.

Steam Greenlight Page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92990904
Purchase Link: http://www.dungeondashers.com

If anyone has a YouTube account and would like to record a Let's Play or create a trailer of of this new version then I'll send you a free copy of the game to do so.

[Chezzo]

Hey, that's where you are wrong. This game IS fun to play. It's got every turn based action point game on the market beat so far. Steam Marines http://www.steammarines.com/ is much further along in development, but it isn't nearly as fun as Dungeon Dashers. Guts http://www.bigmengames.com/alpha.html shows promise but it doesn't use more than one character, a must for action point tactical roguelikes in my opinion.

I'm not sure why Dungeon Dashers is so good, either. I'm trying to figure that out for my game. Anyone care to guess?

Can't wait to play this build, man!

[JigxorAndy]

Hey, that's where you are wrong. This game IS fun to play. It's got every turn based action point game on the market beat so far. Steam Marines http://www.steammarines.com/ is much further along in development, but it isn't nearly as fun as Dungeon Dashers. Guts http://www.bigmengames.com/alpha.html shows promise but it doesn't use more than one character, a must for action point tactical roguelikes in my opinion.

I'm not sure why Dungeon Dashers is so good, either. I'm trying to figure that out for my game. Anyone care to guess?

Can't wait to play this build, man!

Thank you for the feedback and kind words. I feel better about the game now that I've released this build. I polished a fair few small things (such as displaying when you don't have enough AP left or no targets in range) which seemed to make a lot of difference. I'm confident about the game and I'm still working on it everyday to make it better and better. It was just a temporary lack in motivation after working on it pretty hard for many days in a row.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 272
* Fixed bug which caused game to become unresponsive when gates that were already unlocked attempted to be unlocked (on Splinter level)
* Changed map format (refactoring)
* Fixed bugs in maps where enemies were invisible sometimes (that were from an older map format)
* Added pause screen when you press ESC. Pressing ESC will also cancel a skill (you can still press CTRL to cancel).
* Added gold counter in the corner (temp art)
* Added better global quests system, added new quests for killing different types of enemies (temp art)

Tomorrow I'm doing a Pomodoro jam with some gamedev friends. Hoping to be very productive!

[JigxorAndy]

Day 273
* Changed quest system to be more dynamic and have smoother transitions for the popup box
* Added a bunch of different quests, most of which require killing monsters
* Added pause menu which is keyboard controlled and also displays current quests
* Tweaked End of Level screen to have one button and have a cleaner UI

I had a few game developer friends over today and we all used the Pomodoro technique to manage our time. It worked fairly well. I use the Pomodoro technique on a daily basis to manage my time and I think it's a great way to work. I had some good conversations with a few other people today on the game's progress and some upcoming issues. One thing I'm looking into is the way skill cooldowns will work. The current build lets the players have pretty much free reign, but future builds will have cooldowns or extra costs associated with using each skill so that you won't be able to spam them as hard to win.

Here's a screenshot of the (WIP/programmer art) pause menu, displaying a couple of the current quests that are in progress:

[JigxorAndy]

Day 274
* Fixed AI bug where they weren't processing tiles that could be shot over properly. This makes the AI seem much smarter (since they work more properly now) and they will do less dancing on the spot and walking aimlessly between tiles.
* Fixed bug with Goblin AI's direction after they fire an arrow (which meant you wouldn't always get a crit when you hit them in the back)
* Removed bad sounds when skills wear off.
* Changed Knight guard skill to end turn
* Designed cooldown systems

Mostly did bugfixing today and looked into some systems for the skills cooldown. I think I will primarily go with a cooldown system that is "turn" based. Meaning that once you cast a powerful spell you have to wait until you gain control for the same hero once again. This will stop the player from being able to spam high damage skills such as nukes. I looked into some other system such as increasing the AP cost every time you use a skill which ticks back down as you do other actions, as well as needing to kill a certain amount of enemies to recharge a skill, but these other systems had too many cons. I can post my analysis of why I think a turn-based skill cooldown is the best if people are interested.

There's a problem with the turn order if you open multiple doors in a row which I need to fix before I can effectively implement cooldowns. Basically, the issue is some characters end up having two turns before other characters get to have their first turn. It's to do with merging the list of new enemies when you open a door with the current list of characters who are active.

Dungeon Dashers is also falling back in the top 100 on Steam Greenlight against all of the other great games on there, so if you haven't voted it up yet, please do so! http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92990904

[JigxorAndy]

Day 275
* Fixed turn order problem when opening new doors
* Added AP cost display on each skill
* Added Total AP and Total HP numbers
* Added skill cooldowns based on turns
* Changed AP costs and cooldown times for many skills (WIP tweaking)
* Added teleport shrine which is a single use "checkpoint" that teleports all players to it on use (will replace teleporting to doors)

I went with the turn-based cooldown that I described yesterday. Seems to work well and I'm happy with it. Chris has started drawing portraits for all of the enemies. He did an Orc today and I really like it a lot!

This screenshot shows most of the new features including a skill which is on cooldown (the last skill).



New Orc portrait by Chris (no total HP since it's an older screenshot):



Also: If anyone is interested in developing some levels for Dungeon Dashers in exchange for credit in the game and a couple of free copies, shoot me an email: [email protected]. I want to get more content into this game but I can't develop fast enough by myself.

[alastair]

Teleport shrine is a cool idea, much fancier than just a tile you step on.

[JigxorAndy]

Teleport shrine is a cool idea, much fancier than just a tile you step on.

It was Philip's idea! As we already have the "hex" styled tile for the level exit. I'll take out the door teleporting today and add more shrines.

[JigxorAndy]

Day 276
* Added new portraits for Skeleton, Minotaur and Spiders by Chris.
* Added blue lighting effect to shrine fire
* Removed door teleporting

After I removed the teleporting on a door and left it only to the shrines, I found that it does change the game a bit. It means that more shrines need to be placed in order to make up for the instant teleporting on every door, which will eventually clutter a map. It's a hard balance to strike, as the teleporting on every door is great for linear maps, but doesn't work well if the characters are split up and you need to make a strategic decision about their placement. Perhaps the solution is to have a door which teleports you, and a door which does not? That way, a combination of normal doors, teleport doors and shrines could be used in order to achieve the right level of jumping around.

Looking to do this stuff soon:
* chain lightning / heal / more skills
* new enemies - spider web slow attack, witch, etc. (AP Reducing debuffs)
* Proper sound/music/ambient engine
* New sound effects (need to buy some libraries to mix together)

[Zimonak]

First of all, i wanted to say how amazing this looks. The graphics, the idea, the updates... everything.

Secondly, your DevLog is my savior. Literally. I have a few projects to finish with a very close deadline and until today I couldn't quite pull myself together. Then I stumbled across this. I skimmed through all this topic, feeling more and more motivated as I read what you have achieved and accomplished every day. Now I'm seriously pumped and ready to finish my stuff.

Just wanted to say-
thank you.

 

[JigxorAndy]

First of all, i wanted to say how amazing this looks. The graphics, the idea, the updates... everything.

Secondly, your DevLog is my savior. Literally. I have a few projects to finish with a very close deadline and until today I couldn't quite pull myself together. Then I stumbled across this. I skimmed through all this topic, feeling more and more motivated as I read what you have achieved and accomplished every day. Now I'm seriously pumped and ready to finish my stuff.

Just wanted to say-
thank you.

Thank you very much! I'm glad that I was able to motivate you on your own projects, and your comment has motivated me just as much! If you need some more help with knuckling down and getting stuff done, try using the Pomodoro technique. It's something that helped me improve how much I do each day.

Get going and finish your stuff!

[JigxorAndy]

Day 277
* Changed shrines to floor teleport tiles
* Added new portraits for a handful of enemies (created by Chris)
* Fixed bug with lighting around player characters not appearing sometimes
* Added big spiders (oversized monster)
* Added little spiders
* Added fire elemental
* Added scarab



I had a backlog of enemies that Chris had created but I hadn't implemented, so I put them in today. I quite like the big spider, who upon dying, spawns a bunch of little spiders near its body which get to move straight after the current player ends their turn. Other enemy types implemented just have normal boring attacks. I also plan to add some kind of slowing web attack by the big spider.

Not sure what to do with the Fire elemental to make him interesting. Perhaps a burning debuff that damages the player over time.

I decided to change the shrines which teleport the player to floor tiles. Even though the shrines look awesome, there were two reasons for this. One is that the shrines take up a lot of space. They have to be placed frequently, and everywhere they're placed requires a tile, making square rooms smaller. They're also "active" triggers now, whereas a door was more of a passive trigger - you're walking through a door and your party happens to teleport with you, you didn't ask them to. Shrines required thinking about to actively go and use them.

In contrast floor teleport tiles (as displayed in the placeholder art in today's screenshot) are passive. They can be placed just before a door to give a door the same effect it had in previous builds, where opening one teleports your party. However they do not require additional thought from a player. A player doesn't have to consciously go out of their way to activate them like they do with a shrine. Secondly they don't take up any space like a shrine does, and can be placed anywhere.

If you're unsure why I didn't want door teleporting all the time - it's for map layout and strategic reasons. Some levels designs are more interesting if the player is forced to split up their party and take different routes. And there may be times when you want to open a door but don't want everyone to go there, such as deliberately taking two paths to flank an enemy for example.