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[Ian_A]

Thanks Fuzzgoddess and Thumaturge!

Started working on the Crimson Keep proper (the castle).

[Ian_A]

Ghost ladies!! 

[Ian_A]

Testing it out in game, using a ghoul idle animation in this shot. Still not sure where these will show up in the game. Will naturally be decked out in weapon and armor when they do eventually show up.

[Thaumaturge]

The lizardman model looks good, I feel! ^_^

[Ian_A]

Thanks Thaumaturge!

Here's another new enemy, flying/flaming skull that explodes when it gets near the player, leaving them poisoned if they were too close to the blast.

[Ian_A]

Hey everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Ian here, the designer and artist working on Crimson Keep. We've had a productive several weeks despite a multitude of distractions. First let's talk about weapon abilities.



Weapon abilities are abilities like any other in the game, but are slotted in when a weapon is equipped. The ability varies by weapon type. A two handed sword (like in the image above) has a cleave ability, that does a percentage of the weapon's damage in a wide arc in front of the player to multiple enemies. The one handed sword type, despite gaining damage from the same skill level (slashing) has a different ability. When we get around to adding shields to the game, the block ability will replace the weapon ability when a shield is equipped. Creating an interesting trade-off between offense and defense. I think players will enjoy picking weapons based on their preferred play-style. The functionality is also there for unique abilities for artifact weapons, like a sword that can shoot fireballs.

We made several new enemy types that are already making the game more interesting to play. One of the hallmarks of great action rpg design are varied and interesting enemy types that form their own puzzle dynamic when grouped in different ways. Some enemies can now resurrect and heal certain types of beings. The environment has also started playing a larger role.

The flying skull enemy flies towards the player, once in range initiating an exploding attack that the player has a short time to get away from. This attack also does friendly fire damage to other enemies, so could be used creatively.



The Imp Berserker wields two weapons and does a quick attack using both, triggering damage twice. The rage of battle induces a high in the berserker, increasing its attack and movement speed the more damage is taken by surrounding entities.



The Imp Druid harnesses the power of the wilds to shoot snaring projectiles, heal living beings, and protect itself with sharp brambles that damage melee attackers. Dangerous for their healing abilities, though their natural source of magic doesn't allow them to heal the undead.



The Treeman Warrior has a dangerous halberd with a long reach. It does fast combination attacks, some of which have so much force behind them they cannot be parried. They call The Grotto their home, and prefer to be near bodies of water, which enrich their bodies and heal their wounds.



Mummies are not an incredible threat in their dried, decrepit form, but if blood of the living is splashed near their dead body they will be revived and empowered, becoming much more dangerous.



Ghost clerics are heavily armored apparitions that can revive the freshly deceased. They are a target that should be prioritized if in the presence of living creatures that can benefit from their resurrections.

Let me know what you think of these enemies types!

-Ian

[Thaumaturge]

I'm inclined to agree that variety in enemy behaviours can be very beneficial to the gameplay of such a game as this. More specifically, the characters that you've outlined seem decent--although it's hard to give much further comment without actually playing the game and seeing how they work in practice, I feel.

That said, some of the behaviours described do seem interesting. I particularly like the mummy's "flavour" (although I'll confess that I'm not a fan of the model's face; it doesn't look quite "right" to me). I imagine that fighting around a mummy could be somewhat tricky, unless the mummy is dealt with first: a single hit to another enemy while too near to the mummy could result in a more dangerous foe.

I like the idea of weapon abilities: as with the enemy behaviours, done well they might add to the variety of the combat! ^_^

[Ian_A]

Noted, Thaumaturge. I'll try and take another pass on the mummy at some point, I was thinking of adding little scraps of wrappings on his body that might sell the look a little better, and he could always use a better face.

Ben's started working on systems to generate our navigation mesh. Here's what the start of it looks like right now:

[Ian_A]

I try to make scary things and they end up cute 

[mzn528]

This is awesome so far, I am digging the overall style of this game!

I do have one thing that you might consider though, you might want to play around with the attacking animation to make it feel more impactful and responsive.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because a lot of promising game got dinged by this (think necropolis, Lord of the Fallen, etc.). Maybe combat is not one of the main focus of your game but I think perfecting that will definitely help.

Couple of quick dirty fixes:

animation -
Longer anticipation (for slower weapon) but always quick execution: for slower weapon you can do more frames on lifting the weapon, but do less frames on the actual hitting portion. For example in your latest gif the sword strike looks like a slower swipe instead of an impactful hit, that's probably because you have too many frames depicting the weapon passing through the enemies.

sound, misc -
screen stop: have the game pause for a milisecond whenever you hit a target, dragon's dogma does this
screen shake: have the screen shake a tiny bit whenenver you hit an enemy

Actually here's a GDC video talking about this exact topic:



Hope this can help, keep up the great work!

[s0]

This is awesome so far, I am digging the overall style of this game!

I do have one thing that you might consider though, you might want to play around with the attacking animation to make it feel more impactful and responsive.

The reason why I am bringing this up is because a lot of promising game got dinged by this (think necropolis, Lord of the Fallen, etc.). Maybe combat is not one of the main focus of your game but I think perfecting that will definitely help.

seconding this. looks really promising, but attacks need more feedback.

[Ian_A]

Thanks mzn528!

Yeah we did a first pass on game feely stuff several months ago, but we definitely need another pass. I'd really like to add more blood spray/splatter and decals, and moderate that randomly or when you overkill or crit on enemies, or hit them in weak points. I'll definitely be doing another pass on animations and you're definitely right about those changes.

Wind waker did that momentary pause thing when you hit an enemy, and I'll be honest I really don't like it. I haven't spent more than 2 hours with Dragon's Dogma but I feel like it's kind of a design mess. Haven't really gotten into it despite loving Dark Souls, and Shadow of the colossus.

And yes, screenshake, always more screenshake.

[Ian_A]

We're working on pathfinding/navmesh generation and more weapon graphics!!

[Thaumaturge]

I like those weapons; they have an interestingly angular-yet-detailed look that I find appealing, and that seems likely to fit well with the rest of your aesthetic, I think. ^_^

Seeing all of those swords prompts a thought: If I may, given the variety of swords on show there, I'd like to suggest another weapon to include: the macuahuitl. In short, and if I have it correct, it's a large wooden bat with obsidian blades embedded into the sides; it's big, heavy, and very sharp--but prone to losing blades.

I've actually had an idea in mind for the macuahuitl in a melee-combat game; it might work for your game, so let me decribe it: The macuahuitl would be a weapon that starts out with incredibly high damage--but that, with every hit, loses blades and thus decreases in damage. While it starts out deadly, by the time that its durability has all but run out it might be a mediocre to poor choice.

[C.J.Geringer]

Really liking how the game is shaping up.

How would a melee bvuild deal with the exploding skull?

Very creative with the mummy blood-related trait.

[Ian_A]

I like those weapons; they have an interestingly angular-yet-detailed look that I find appealing, and that seems likely to fit well with the rest of your aesthetic, I think. ^_^

Seeing all of those swords prompts a thought: If I may, given the variety of swords on show there, I'd like to suggest another weapon to include: the macuahuitl. In short, and if I have it correct, it's a large wooden bat with obsidian blades embedded into the sides; it's big, heavy, and very sharp--but prone to losing blades.

I've actually had an idea in mind for the macuahuitl in a melee-combat game; it might work for your game, so let me decribe it: The macuahuitl would be a weapon that starts out with incredibly high damage--but that, with every hit, loses blades and thus decreases in damage. While it starts out deadly, by the time that its durability has all but run out it might be a mediocre to poor choice.

Some of that angular-ness is from the normals being shaded wrong, will fix that when I put them into the game.

That would be a cool weapon, can definitely do that. We don't have a durability system or plans for it right now, but if we do add one that would be a cool mechanic!

[Ian_A]

Really liking how the game is shaping up.

How would a melee bvuild deal with the exploding skull?

Very creative with the mummy blood-related trait.

Thanks C.J.

When the skull gets to the player it doesn't instantly explode, it starts an animation and then explodes, so you can get close enough, trigger the animation start, and then get out of range if you move quickly enough. There's also a good deal of consumable ranged weapons to find (fireball scrolls) that can be used even if you're more of a melee build.

[Ian_A]

[Thaumaturge]

Some of that angular-ness is from the normals being shaded wrong, will fix that when I put them into the game.

Ah, fair enough--they still look cool, to my eye, as do the recently-posted axes and clubs. ^_^

That would be a cool weapon, can definitely do that. We don't have a durability system or plans for it right now, but if we do add one that would be a cool mechanic!

Excellent! ^_^

As to durability, do you have ammunition of any sort, perhaps for your ranged weapons or wands? That was my own approach, since I came up with it for a concept that likewise didn't generally include durability, as I recall. It even kinda works with the macuahuitl, since I think that lost or broken blades can be replaced by new ones.

[Ian_A]

Yeah, we're actually planning right now to switch wands over to charges/ammo. So the idea of a sword that's overpowered but has limited use would jive with that!