That's a nice looking editor, I'm sure having improved it will save you quite some time in the long run!

I've been watching your videos for some time now. This one was nice as always, keep up the great work!

It is interesting that you changed tile size at this point. Something very similar happened to me, too: I even rescaled my player character when I was already two years into generating my world. It is so hard to make proportions feel good. And the most annoying thing is that you can't rely on real world scales, as we also recently discussed briefly in Prinsessas Devlog.

Shut up and take my money already!
But seriously, if you hadn't had me hooked with the pure graphics already, you would have had me with the CCTV and hacking. All the best to you and your project, I'll be following the progress!

Definitely be prepared for a big cup of coffee and a winding road, ha.

Big cup of coffee? Challenge accepted!

Nothing fancy, literally exactly as it sounds, a zoom-in function that will enlarge only battlefield art x2 otherwise on the big screen resolution you got a lot of black/un-used space on some screen edges for some maps. Will be an on/off option for it if we manage to make it. We did something similar for TAURONOS

I see, that makes sense!

That's a nice teaser, very atmospheric and unsettling.

We now took a break from main tasks to try to add a zoom-in function, dunno, if we manage to develop it all the way, but surely a zoom-in function of the battlefield would be a good addition for big screens resolutions

When you say zoom-in function, do you plan it to be player controlled or an automatic "vanity cam" like in the newer X-Coms?

The snow shader is lovely and this whole devlog seems amazing. I'm looking forward to reading it entirely with a cup of coffee.

Well, it could, but it could also be really awkward "lampshading" if handled poorly.

It really depends on what kind of (supernatural) powers exist in the world

Very true. Maybe I could have a vague explanation somewhere in a dialogue. Nothing too serious, just a side note. But at the moment I am leaning towards leaving it out completely.
To avoid that awkward lampshading you mention, I guess the whole premise of the game has to be build around that mechanic in a way, as in Hades for example.

I love that mushroom animation. Somehow I can't stop watching the loop

That's great, congratulations on the successful Kickstarter. Looking forward to those guards and robbers!

So each AI got his own pattern that is good, will they always have that pattern or the behaviour will be random?
Random behaviour may cause new elements but also fustration I think while fixed behaviour may not bring new stuff but when the player learns the patterns and counter-attacks them he will have satisfaction I suspect.

You bring up a very good point. In my game, different enemy types have very similar behavior but a different set of skills at their disposal. For example, turtles can't sprint or farmers are "loners" and do not alarm other enemies nearby. So I hope the player will figure that out and be able to predict enemies' behavior, which is fun, I hope.

How will you handle the possibility of "lose more" situations where the player loses and then has an ever harder time to battle the enemy?

The "lose more" downward spiral could become a problem, yes. I hope this is countered by a mechanic I added earlier: In every level, there is an altar hidden somewhere. When the player finds that altar and activates it, the power of all demons is reduced. Also, if a player really wants to kill a specific enemy like a demon, they can buff themself up by sacrificing a couple of materials and get a big advantage for a period of time (long enough to take out that enemy, I hope). One last thing that can always be done by the player is to leave the level and then start it again. The killed (non-quest related) enemies and state whether they are a demon or not is not saved between play sessions. This can be compared to Diablo II, where killed enemies also were not saved and in case you really maneuvered yourself into a situation where you could not retrieve your body (and equipment) after dying, you could leave and rejoin the game and found your body in town at your chest. Not the most elegant thing, but it worked, I guess. But it will need a lot more testing, until I have it ironed out for my game, I guess.

Also, since the demons grow stronger when they defeat the player, is there an story explanation for how the player can come back after being defeated?

I do not address the death of the player story-wise. I love when this is done like explaining it with different time-lines (Into the Breach) or that the player just passed out and was saved by an NPC (Stardew Valley). I am currently not planning to include something like that. Would you say it would be way cooler to have a story explanation, JobLeonard?

Nice! Perfect elaboration regarding AI again. IMHO, AI is weak part of many games even today in 2021, so nice to see such focus on it in your game.

I am happy at least I appear focussed But in fact I often feel like really wanting to work on something but force myself to improve another more urgent thing. Then again, as solo devs we have to keep it fun for ourselve to not get burned out. A little texture-overhaul is next for me and I am really looking forward to that.


Thanks to you three again. I have not been a member of this forum for a very long time, but it is so cool that people like you take the time to think about other members' projects and give such valuable feedback and criticism.

Thanks for the update! Just a little heads-up: the link to your Steam store page has a typo in it

Nice, good luck for the release and I'll be on the watch for that post-mortem!

Thanks for the detailled breakdown and keep up the great work. I love the rolling and jumping animation by the way

[BATTLEJUICE ALCHEMIST DEVLOG:]

BATTLEJUICE ALCHEMIST DEVLOG:

Enemy Behavior: Combat A.I.

click GIF to watch on YouTube ↑

Hey everyone! I finished the last entry in my A.I. overhaul video trilogy and it is about the most juicy topic in my eyes so far: Combat A.I.! I tried to make the video entertaining and snappy and kept it under 5 minutes.

As you might know already, there are two types of combat in my game: close and ranged combat. Close combat is fought in 1 on 1 fights with slow motions. Ranged combat is fought from classic action RPG top-down view, except with a bit more kiting. The overhaul I worked on is that of the ranged combat.

I connected the combat A.I. to the enemies' wellbeing, which I explained before in the need-driven behavior video. Enemies now have various states of aggressivity and act accordingly. They also alarm each other, work together to give the player some real trouble and got a new sprinting ability. I also added some UI that telegraphs the attack an enemy plans to execute so the player can react accoringly.

To raise the stakes even more, enemies now level up themselves. In my story, the world is overrun by spirits from a realm called the Crossroads. They possess animals and humans and are lead by demons that spawn under certain conditions. Now, enemies who defeat the player in close combat get promoted to demons.

Thank you so much for reading (and watching) and I'd be happy to know what you think!

Chromosome Evil strike team vs your creature.

Hahaha, nice, I love it. Nice mashup of two very promising games!

The UI looks clean and focussed, yet appealing and I am sure it will give your art the space it needs to breathe. Nice job so far!

Both combat suits look very cool and I love the animation on the weapon charging up to fire!