Mainly it simplifies my implementation of the game to not include stats, that is why I don't include them. And anyway since I'm making an action and not an action-rpg I don't think I need them much. 

I agree with you, visually the kick would fit very well, but I'm sure it would give me headaches to balance the game mechanics, so for now it's not among the things I'm going to implement.

Hahah, fair enough on both counts! ^_^

And good work on the new enemies! I'm guessing that the Knight will have their own set of moves, different to those of the soldier or the skeleton?

Ah, ups and downs it seems! Well, I'm sorry that you lost so much of your old team--but I'm glad that you've found new members to take up the work! ^_^

Again, sorry for the delay in response!

To answer your question... I don't know. Without going and examining how you're interacting, and who you're interacting with it's hard to say where you might be going wrong. (And even then, I'm no expert on this stuff, so there's no guarantee that I would have an answer even if I did examine those things.)

All that I can tell you comes from my own anecdotal experience: for me at least, friendships tend to work best when they happen naturally, rather than being actively sought.

I might suggest just replying to their tweets (where you want to, without forcing yourself), and taking it from there. And if they don't seem interested in talking, then so it goes.

And, well, if you don't find friendships, keep exploring other developers! There are lots out there--you may yet find some with whom you resonate!

Its not that I feel entitled to get a retweet, ...

I mean, from your description, it sounds like you retweeted this person's stuff, then expected them to retweet yours when asked.

[Blog post (31st of July, 2023)Keeping a Dragon in Sight]

Blog post (31st of July, 2023)
Keeping a Dragon in Sight

Summary: In which the design-doc is completed (sort of); the availability of a boss is changed; this change prompts a new combat-spell; the dragon-boss sees work; a new boss is begun; and the question of boss-arena visibility is addressed.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot once again shows a new combat spell--of a sort:



The week just past was another busy one, I feel!

To start with, work continued on the design-document, in a variety of elements.

Indeed, there was work done on the order of availability of bosses, changes to the moons from player actions, boss-mechanics, questlines, and more besides! There was even the addition of a new boss to the Shattered Moon!

And with that, I think that the design-doc is... pretty much done! 0_0

Aside, that is, from a few changes that I yet want to make.

And indeed, while the document may be "done" after those changes, I don't expect it to be a static text, a work inviolable.

As the game is developed--presuming that it does get to go forward, of course--I expect that things will come up. Perhaps a combat-spell will prove ineffective (or too effective), or an enemy will be unchallenging, or a boss un-fun, etc. These would presumably call for changes--and thus the document would be updated to reflect said changes.

Now, one of the changes made to the design-document in the week just past involved altering the availability of a particular boss, placing it effectively later in the game.

However, I felt that the reward that it gave was perhaps a bit underwhelming for a boss fought then so close to the finale.

So, I brought back an artefact previously held under consideration and applied the aforementioned reward to that, and assigned to this boss a new duo of artefact and combat spell.

Well, sort of: while functionally it is such a pair, conceptually what the player actually gains is... well, a pet.

This little creature keeps close to the player, flying around them, following them--until enemies draw close, at which point it attacks! (... The enemies, not the player. )

And it is this "pet" that is shown in the screenshot above!

Remaining with implementation work, having the design-doc (pretty much) done, I returned to implementing bosses.

Specifically, I resumed work on the "dragon" boss-fight. I adjusted it in a variety of ways--and I believe that I have it now pretty much polished off! (As a fight, at least--art, environment, scripting, etc. have yet to be done, of course.)

And what's more, I've made a bare start to another boss, this one intended to be available early in the game.

The dragon boss-fight did present a difficulty, however: I wanted there to be a fair bit of space in the fight--but moving too far away from the dragon hid it from view.

There were a few potential solutions, I felt--but I wasn't confident of any of them.

So, I decided to research what approaches were taken by comparable games. Specifically, I looked at three other metroidvanias: Aquaria, Depths of Sanity, and Lila's Sky Ark.

And the result was... varied!

Aquaria seemed to rely on zooming the camera out. Depths of Sanity sometimes fixed the camera in position, sometimes did nothing. Lila's Sky Ark generally fixed the camera in position.

In the end, I implemented Aquaria's solution: the game can now zoom the camera out to widen the battlefield! (Or, I suppose, zoom it in to limit things more.)

And trying it with the dragon boss-fight... it actually works pretty well, I feel! ^_^



That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

No problem, I appreciate the question No, it won't be Soulslike, so there's no corpse-run since there are no souls to collect, also no stats and equipment, it's just a first-person action. I share mostrly its combat system and level design.

Aah, that is a relief! I really like the look of the combat and the level-design philosophy--but I really don't like actual "Soulslikes"--perhaps especially the corpse-running and stat-grinding elements!

Regarding the other updates, it all looks good thus far! That spearman looks like a potential terror with the reach given by their weapon! And that open ledge definitely makes me want for a "shove" (or "kick") ability of some sort in order to knock enemies into drops! ^_^

My understanding is that it's usual to create a pitch-deck, containing various elements of what you're pitching.

(Rami Ismail recently posted this template--and it may be worth looking at other game-dev articles on the same site--while publisher Raw Fury some time ago posted their own template.)

Regarding a demo specifically, some publishers actually request one as I recall. And while I daresay that a video may not be a bad idea, having a prototype-demo seems likely to be a good one: those that want to try the game can, and those that want to move on needn't play it.

And indeed, looking at this article on the former of the two sites linked above, I see this advice:

Personally, I believe pitching is something that you can (& should!) start doing after the prototype, as long as you have a number of mockups available to communicate the atmosphere of your work.

The reason is simple: if the Prototypes are what define whether the game should be made, it's a very good way to see if anyone is interested in the game in the first place.

(What that article argues against, I believe, is going all the way to the "vertical slice" stage of development before pitching, instead pitching with a prototype.)

Finally, it might be worth your looking at the following article--granted that I don't know how up-to-date it is:
How to guarantee your pitch will be rejected

[Blog post (24th of July, 2023)The Enemies Take What's "Mine"]

Blog post (24th of July, 2023)
The Enemies Take What's "Mine"

Summary: In which two new spells are added; health- and damage- values are rebalanced; and a fair bit is done in the design-doc.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows another new combat spell--this one of a defensive or tactical nature! (Once again using stand-in art.)



The week just past was another varied one, I feel--albeit with one particular element taking a significant proportion of the work done:

Two new combat-spells were added in the week just past, both somewhat defensive in nature, albeit in different ways.

The first is shown in the main screenshot above: it allows the player to drop three "markers", forming a triangle within which there then appears a field that slows all--player included--that enter.

Broadly speaking, the smaller the triangle, and the closer to equilateral, the more powerful the field.

After a time, or if the player picks up one of the "markers", the field dissipates and the "markers" return to the player.

(Technically speaking, the strength of the field is determined internally by the size of the detection-sphere that's associated with it.

This is in turn based on the centroid of the triangle, and the maximum distance from that centroid to a vertex of the triangle, if I recall correctly.

Which should, I believe, correspond to being smaller when the triangle is smaller, and when the triangle is closer to equilateral.)

The second weapon is a little more aggressive: it drops magical mines behind the player. These explode when an enemy draws near, dealing a little damage--but perhaps more importantly, knocking the enemy back and briefly stunning them.

If no enemy activates a given mine within a span of a few seconds, however, the mine disappears.



Remaining (broadly) with matters of combat, in the week just past I attended to the matter of rebalancing certain health- and damage- values.

You see, I had found that effects that could damage both player and enemies tended to feel more effective against the former than the latter. For example, detonating a mana-crystal took about a fifth of the player's base health, but felt ineffective against the not-overly-tough Deceived Acolytes.

So, I set about reducing the health-values of enemies (approximately halving them, to be specific), and then likewise reducing the damage dealt by the player's combat spells (so that enemies wouldn't feel like paper against normal attacks).

And, while some tweaks may yet be called for, it does feel better this way I do think!

But perhaps the greatest portion of the work done in the week just past was that done on the design-document.

Here I filled out various questlines, expanded and set down the mechanics for several boss-fights, figured out the order in which bosses become available, worked on various artefacts and spells, changed the order of the "metroidvania upgrades", and more besides!

And finally, there were various things done in the week just past that don't seem worth detailing here!

That, then, is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Having recently been watching a let's play of Dark Souls, this all seems very appropriately out of that game's level-design ethos. ^_^

Hmm... In fact, let me ask then--and forgive me if I already have: Do you intend for this to be a full Soulslike? Will there be a "currency" that is dropped on death, heavy reliance on stats, etc...? Or does it simply share that game's style of combat?

[Blog post (17th of July, 2023)Mummies Alive!(...?)]

Blog post (17th of July, 2023)
Mummies Alive!(...?)

Summary: In which the design-doc sees more work--including additions; two more enemies are prototyped; a "cone" AOE is implemented; an extant spell is tweaked; two new spells are prototyped; and the functioning of the "damage-over-time" class is altered.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot shows a prototype of a new combat spell! (As before, with stand-in art.)



The week just past was a fairly active one, I feel, with work done on a number of different elements!

Once again the design-document saw updates in the week just past, not only in minor changes, but also in some cleanup and sorting of the various artefacts and spells that are therein described.

But perhaps more saliently, it also saw the addition of new artefacts, new spells, and even a new boss-encounter!

On the prototyping side, I implemented two new enemies in the week just past: those being two types of mummy, both intended for the Tomb Moon.

The first is fairly basic: hungering for life, they seek out anything living--like, say, the player-character--and attempt to drain their life-energy for themselves. (Healing any damage dealt to them in the process.)



The second is a little more complex: a mummy sorcerer, seeking to prolong themselves not by draining life-energy but rather by draining mana. Against most of the living, this is most easily done by killing the victim and draining mana from the death and the corpse--and this is what they attempt with the player-character.

To this end, they have two spells: First is an offensive spell, which charges and then activates a dangerous area-of-effect attack. And second is a defensive spell, which throws back (and slightly damages) those enemies who draw too near.



Now, the life-drain attack used by the first mummy takes effect within a cone-shaped area. (Or rather, a sector of a circle, being two-dimensional.) As I didn't previously have such an area-of-effect implemented, I thus did so in the week just past.

This in turn involved reworking somewhat of how I handled "beams", such that they and "cones"--the two of which share some properties in this game--could descend from a single base-class and be used by the same weapon-class.

And for the purposes of testing this new functionality, I created a simple combat-spell. (One not intended for the final game.)

On the matter of combat spells, in the week just past I implemented two new such and tweaked one that I already had:

The tweaked spell was the old "regret" spell, now adjusted to instead reflect a different artefact--a flower--and, as I recall, to polish the spell a little. The essence remains the same, however: pull nearby enemies in, and very briefly stun them.

Of the new spells, the simpler was the "envenom" spell: it's essentially the attack used by the "biting serpent" enemy, being a melee-range damage-over-time attack.

As part of this, however, I adjusted the class that controls such "damage-over-time" effects: it now deals damage in "pulses", rather than "continuously".

The other new spell is a little more complex, and is the one shown in the animated gif at the start of this post. This is, essentially, a turret--but one that has a very limited range, and a "projectile" that it re-uses.

That limited range solves, I think, a concern that I had with my previous "turret" prototype: why would the player not take essentially-free damage?

If the player had a more-limited number of slots for their spells (something that I have considered), then taking the turret would potentially have a significant impact on their damage output. In effect, they would be trading raw damage for reliable damage.

But with four slots, there is I feel plenty of space for the player to gain that reliable damage and still have a solid damage output.

This is solved, then, by making the use of the turret risky or skilful: the player either has to take the turret to the enemies, or bring the enemies to the turret.

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

All good work, I do think! ^_^

And I do like the idea of a parry-riposte attack! It seems likely to be a nicely-satisfying reward for skill with the combat system! ^_^

[Blog post (10th of July, 2023)Those of the Shattered Moon]

Blog post (10th of July, 2023)
Those of the Shattered Moon

Summary: In which enemies are prototyped; a bug is fixed; and the design-doc sees further development.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot moves away from concept art, and back to the prototyping of enemies! (With stand-in art once again, please note.)



And indeed, the week just past was primarily given to enemy-prototyping, I believe, albeit with a few other things done besides:

First amongst the enemies that I prototyped, as I recall, were those that I intend for the Shattered Moon.

Like their moon, each of these denizens is shattered, each in one of four different ways:

(Noting once again that all of the gifs shown below use stand-in art.)

Simplest are the Shattered in Body.

Like their body, their attack shatters: they fire a single projectile, which on impact or reaching a given range breaks into a spray of lesser projectiles, which in turn break into lesser projectiles still.

The result is, effectively, an Area Of Effect attack, devastating close to its centre--where more shards will hit--yet still dangerous at its edges.



More troublesome are the Shattered In Time.

These each remain on the field for just a few seconds, then blink out for a moment--only to reappear with their health reset.

Thus, while they're not tough, the player has only a limited window in which to defeat them.

Their projectiles are likewise unstuck in time: these skip back and forth along their trajectories, making them a little jarring, and harder to react to.



Harder to hit are the Shattered in Space.

At intervals these Shattered will skip to a new location, thus challenging the player to recover their aim.

And again, their projectiles follow their theme: here the projectiles split and split again, creating a fan across the space through which they travel.



And somewhat tricky are the Shattered in Life.

Each of these is separated from their life, which in turn has been split up, appearing as crystals scattered about the room.

As such, they are themselves impervious--instead, the player must target their life itself.

However, they will attempt to prevent that, appearing between the player and whatever life-crystal is being aimed at--until they commit to an attack, at least...

As for that attack, it's fairly straightforward: as their life is split up, so too is their attack, appearing as a row of projectiles fired together.



And as part of working on these enemies, as I recall, I fixed a bug that turned up in the convenience class that I use for simple projectile weapons.

With that set of enemies done, I moved on to a new enemy, from a new moon--specifically, the ghostly Shrouds from the Tomb Moon.

These drift about and around, circling inward towards the player--and fading in and out of visibility. They must reach melee range in order to deal damage--but keeping away from them can be a little harder when they can't always be seen...

You should be able to see this enemy in the first screenshot, above!

And finally, during the week just past I continued to work on the design document, on various elements.

Perhaps most saliently, I've put down some notes regarding the tutorial-level/starting-location, as well as the arcanist met there; indicated the effects of killing a certain boss; and made a start to considering the order in which bosses become available during the game.

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Mainly the backstab is to be used during combat, but there will be times that you can get around enemies from behind and hit them (though there won't be many).  

Ahh, I think that I see--it's a backstab of that sort that Dark Souls has, is that correct?

That is, that it's less a matter of approaching unobserved or planning ahead, but rather of the skill of manoeuvring around the enemy during combat to get into position behind them?

If so, then that's cool too, I do feel! ^_^

Also, good work on the feature thus far, it seems! ^_^

Congratulations on hitting gold! And I hope that the porting process goes well! ^_^

[Blog post (3rd of July, 2023)Characters Depicted]

Blog post (3rd of July, 2023)
Characters Depicted

Summary: In which more concept-art is made; the design-doc sees more work; as part of that, one set of quest-lines is completed; and one more publisher response comes in.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot once again shows a set of excerpts from concept art made in the week just past:



The week just past was once again primarily a concept-art week:

To start with, and as mentioned above, work has continued on making concept art for the game!

In this case, the art depicts four standard enemies (three shown above), one NPC (who under certain circumstances may become a boss...), one boss, and some of the game's finale...

In other matters, work continued on the design-doc, including changes in various matters, as I recall.

But most saliently, I believe that I have finally completed the quest-lines for the planetary-puzzles! (Or at least this draft thereof; naturally they may be changed in the future, and it remains to be seen how they feel in-game.)

And finally, I received in the week just past one more response from a publisher, that being another decline.

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Toward the end of development I will include a playtest with some friends, among other things I will also figure out whether friendly fire makes sense or not. 

This is good to read! ^_^

I started implementing the backstab mechanic, to be triggered when the player is +/- 60 degrees behind the enemy.

Ooh, that can be fun! It's a mechanic that I feel nicely rewards skill! (Be that skill sneakiness or planning ahead, or something else.) ^_^

[Blog post (26th of June, 2023)Painting Fragments]

Blog post (26th of June, 2023)
Painting Fragments

Summary: In which design-doc work continues; and a fair bit of painting is done.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is once again a selection of excerpts taken from newly-made concept-art:



The week just past was a bit of a slow one, I'll confess. This is perhaps due to a few causes, including the work itself progressing somewhat slowly and, perhaps in part, the effects of a cold (as I presume it to be) that I caught.

To start with, I continued work on the design-doc for the game, albeit as far as  I recall only with relatively-minor updates.

Rather, and as shown above, the main of the work of the week just past was in the making of more concept art.

There I set down images for several things, including events, locations, two bosses, and even an item!

(Not all of which are shown above; a few pieces were rather schematic in nature, and I decided to exclude those from the compilation image.)

Even at the fairly small size at which I'm painting these pieces, I'll confess that making them took some time. This was due not only to the painting itself, but also to figuring out what to put down, and the specifics thereof.

Still, I'm not entirely unhappy with the progress thus far made! ^_^

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Unfortunately, I couldn't recover any of it, but now I'm researching more ways to back my files up.
I am still remaining diligent in my development though, so hopefully this set back doesn't push my planned release date too far back.

Ah, again, I'm sorry to read that so much was lost!

Well, good luck in your search for means of backing up! I hope that you find a solution or set thereof that works for you!

[Blog post (19th of June, 2023)Developing Concepts]

Blog post (19th of June, 2023)
Developing Concepts

Summary: In which further game-design work is done; quest-lines are worked on; some concept art is begun; a new enemy jumps in; an extant enemy splits into two variants; a technical idea is gained; and a second wave of publisher-pitches is sent out.

Greetings and salutations!

This week's screenshot is a trio of excerpts from some new concept art:



The week just past was a somewhat varied one, I feel, with work done on game-design, concept-art, implementation, and more besides!

As with the preceding week, I believe, the main of the work of the week just past was in game-design. And indeed, the design-doc continues to fill out, with enemies, items, and more! (And with the demotion of one "large" moon to the "medium" category.)

But perhaps the most salient part of this was that I began filling in the game's quest-lines.

And this proved rather tricky, I will confess! Specifically, I think that I had difficulty in finding a "handle" by which to grasp the quest-lines, a starting-point from which to begin finding them.

In the end, I think that I found at least some such "handles", for the planetary-puzzle quest-lines at least!

This then led to a number of sights that I had described, along with others from previous work. And I think that I worried that these might not come across clearly to future team-members (should I get to recruit such, of course), or perhaps that I myself might forget.

So, I thus began the work that is excerpted in the main screenshot above: putting down rough concept-art, aimed at showing what I had otherwise described.

There's plenty yet to be done, I believe, but I'm reasonably happy with the start that I've made.

In terms of implementation, in the week just past I made two additions:

First, I added a new enemy, a foe intended to be encountered in the Aethereal Moon: The Echo of Necrourgy.

These echoes, as inimical to the living as the magic that they reflect, will teleport to the player and release a damaging burst of aethereal energy. With good timing they can be avoided--but I will say that I've found such timing to be challenging!

Here below you should see a short gif of prototype Echoes of Necrourgy in action (with stand-in art, of course):


And second, I added a variant of the Stone Guardian that bears a huge stone shield, rendering it invulnerable from the fore. Along with this I tweaked some of the numbers used by the Stone Guardian, in particular such that the variants likewise varied in their attributes.

On the technical side, a set of ideas came to me in the week just past that may help with the question of loading times--although they have yet to be tried!

And finally, I was getting perhaps a little antsy in my wait for further responses from publishers, and so decided to send out wave two of my pitches! We'll see, then, what responses I get from this group...

That then is all for this week--stay well, and thank you for reading! ^_^

Thank you for your interest. Our game indeed has some common soul-like elements, such as the bonfire respawn mechanic, the loss of souls upon death, fragment narration and challenging boss battles

Aah, fair enough! It is perhaps not for me, then--which is okay!

Well, thank you for answering, and good luck with the remainder of development! ^_^

In all fairness, I don't think that there is any style that everyone likes! Thus pretty much any given style will likely have at least some detractors.