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[Happy Shabby Games]

Oh man, I love those glass display cases.

[SolarLune]

The graphics are indeed lovely. To me, though, the pumpkin's death animation feels like it lacks weight - the pieces split into smaller chunks just as substitution - there's no 'breaking' going on. Also seems like the pieces could bounce higher to give an extra 'oomph'. Anyway, nice job on the graphics! Absolutely lovely.

[Eldboll]

We all like flashy things, and there is no better way to start off a fancy boss fight than with a fancy introduction! This week, one of the things we’ve worked on is this flash screen, which will introduce your enemy every time shit is about to hit the fan:

Besides this, there has been some reworking done on the portraits of said boss:

We’ve also been messing around with the idea of changing up how skills work, and after some time in the design dungeon, we’ve decided to give it a shot.

Most skills will now be able to be charged into flashier and more powerful versions by holding down the button. The charge time differs between spells depending on how limiting this extra delay would be for its usability, as well as how powerful the upgrades are. Our main reason for this change is to give players greater variety and involvement in the combat.

Initially, only two charge levels are available, but as you add points in a skill you unlock more charge tiers. Most offensive skills will have five of them!

Below are the animations and effects for the fireball charge, as well as the projectile sprite for level 1-2, 3 and 4:

The fifth level is not yet done, but we promise to crank the fanciness up to max for all top level spells!


Kit630
Haha, thanks man Feels great to hear!
About Kickstarter or Indiegogo. We have thought about it, it just feels weird asking people to pay for something that doesn't actually exist yet. If we're going to set one up, we would like to produce more content so we can show of a proper picture of what we want the final product to be. There's still a ton of features in the game we haven't touched yet, so getting a proper base set up for everything is our main priority right now!

Seasons
Glass displays filled with fancy hats, whats not to like!

SolarLune
Hey man, thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it, I'm learning with each animation so any tips to improve upon them is always welcome! I'll try to oomph it up a bit when I'm done with all the other stuff on my list (it's a damn long list though...)

[Ashkin]

Oh man, that intro animation. Perfect!
The skill charge, at the point where he releases, needs more 'snap' forward so it looks like he's giving the energy a shove rather than just lazily pushing it along. Also, the fireball looks kind of disjointed, maybe tone-down/remove the dark lines between segments?
Looking good, guys.

[Franklin's Ghost]

That Boss intro animation is awesome, love it

[TheApo]

The intro is really  great!

Can't wait to see the final result.
I like the idea with Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Do it and take my 

[burtonposey]

Besides this, there has been some reworking done on the portraits of said boss:

Reminds me a lot of the Street Fighter II vs. and game over screens

This is the first time I'd seen your game. It's looks great and I'm definitely looking forward to playing it. It's all very inspiring, even down to the regularity of your updates. It's something to aspire to, . Take care.

[Eldboll]

This week we have worked on many different areas of the game! We’re currently trying to tie everything together for our long-awaited beta (sorry about that!), so chances are the coming updates will keep on being little bit all over the place.

What we can show you from the skill area are these two skills:

This is the Earth Spike spell! This is part of an experiment we’re having with targeted spells.

As you charge the spell, you will gain control of a small target circle, and when you release the button the spell will be cast at that location. The circle has a limited range, and cannot pass through walls (although it can pass through small obstacles like trees or rocks).

We wanted to at least try it out, since we felt a new type of spell casting would be awesome for the game’s variety. It actually works pretty well! The challenge comes with trying to balance out the high accuracy.

The new charging system is also shown in the gif! Being a ranged spell with high mobility, the charge time of Earth Spike is pretty high. Level 1 and 2 looks the same, but level 2 will knock enemies up and stun them, opening them up for attack or giving the player time to reposition. Level 3 upgrades all aspects, with more damage, larger area of effect and longer stun. Notice how the rabbit is easily comboed with the mace due to the knockup and stun! Be careful, though, because heavy enemies can’t be knocked up.

This second spell is a typical Speed Up spell, which will increase your attack- and cast speed for a limited time. Great for when you’re in a hurry!

Other than spells we also worked on a feature that I don’t think has been mentioned yet: Cards!

Every enemy you kill will have a low chance of dropping a card like the one above. These cards will each give you a slight passive boost, which means collecting them all would improve your character by quite a bit!

They will also feature a portrait of the enemy that dropped it (pictured above is, as you might have guessed, the Green Slime Card) and will be viewable from the Card Album menu at any time.

Lastly, we have some fresh new portraits added this week:

Ashkin
Thanks man! Yeah, the animation for shooting projectile spells was one of the first animations I did for the game. It probably needs a little facelift, thanks for pointing it out!

Franklins Ghost & TheApo
Thanks dudes!

burtonposey
Haha, Street Fighter II is one of the all time greats so I take that as a big compliment!

[Xion]

gonna be completely honest; this looks rad and all but I think those portraits don't really seem to match the quality of the rest of the game, especially when compared to the excellent animations and such.

[mokesmoe]

I'm gonna have to agree.

[PompiPompi]

I also agree with Xion...

[Kit]

Meh, I think they look really good. Really Phoenix Wright-esque, actually. 

As to whether their design fits with the other game graphics, won't be able to tell you until I play it. 

[mokesmoe]

I don't think they look bad. They look good. Just not as good as the rest of the art.


You should probably make the rest of the art worse. That would solve the problem.

[Kit]

You should probably make the rest of the art worse. That would solve the problem.

I second that! A downgrade is in order! 

Then maybe I won't pour oodles of money into it if they sell it :< 

[Ashkin]

I think one of the problems is the number of shades on the face. Take out a few middle tones and it might fit in better with the rest of the art. Also, try messing with the eyes a little, something about their shape is quite strange to me.

[Farmergnome]

Just stumbled on this, wow.  This looks amazing, gonna watch this pretty closely!  Great job so far guys.

[Eldboll]

We've been getting a lot of comments about the portraits lately actually. It's definitely one of things that are still very much a work in progress and we're open for any kind of criticism to help us make them reach the same quality as the rest of our graphics.

More defined criticism would be appreciated as well. "It doesn't look as good" is pretty hard to work with If you guys could pin point what you think makes them drop in quality (like Ahskin did in his post) it would help us a ton! 

Farmergnome
Thanks Dude! I'm personally a big fan of both Under the Garden and RamBros so right back at you!

[kamac]

gonna be completely honest; this looks rad and all but I think those portraits don't really seem to match the quality of the rest of the game, especially when compared to the excellent animations and such.

Yup.

Overall, it looks PRO.
Great graphics & game mechanics.
Also, I cannot see where one tile ends and another begins, so it's another big +.

Say, this:

Is absolutely epic.

2d Animations seem to be on the highest grade here.
Keep going!

[mokesmoe]

I wish I knew why I don't like them as much. I really like the guy with the big hat if that helps.

[Fungineers]

This is awesome! I really like how natural looking your tiles are. They don't look stuck to a grid at all

I'll have to agree with Xion on the portrait discussion as well, but that's possibly just because I don't like the whole portrait idea in RPGs where you can already see the character.  Maybe it's just me being weird.

Amazing job anyway, lovely looking, and enjoyable sounding game