Actually bug testing can be fun! It's a bit like an investigation, trying to find patterns and solve a mystery xD
I don't know if the bug stories are interesting to other people or not, though. What do you think? Should I keep talking about the more interesting bugs or just focus on something else?
I did fix bugs today but today I'd like to talk about game design!
Devlog #11: Tale of ChannelingSo, first I implemented
cooldown. I think most people are familiar with that concept: after using a skill you have to wait a number of turns before using it again.
Then I implemented
warmup. Before using some skills for the first time, the unit need to wait a number of turns. I implemented warmup for bosses, so they waited for a point later in the battle before using some attacks.
Eggs don’t hatch in their first turn. They have a
morph skill that allow them to hatch, becoming bugs. Initially, that skill had a warmup so they’s wait to morph.
But I wanted the player to know in how many turns the eggs would hatch, as that allows the player to plan, and planning is the most crucial (and fun!) part of a tactical rpg.
I could tried to add a countdown to the skill as it was, but I believed a different approach was better.
The idea of
channeling is a skill that has a delay. A unit spends some turns “casting” a skill, and while that happens, the unit may have to stand still. I believe implementing that (and adding the countdown to that) was the better way, specially since this can contribute in the rest of the game, so other units can do something similar ("channeling" a few turns before summoning a powerful monster, for instance) and the player can plan considering that.
P.S.: Ignore the WIP GUI for now!