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[Mekuri]

We are experimenting with being able to level up your Axe, Sword, and Shield though  (each having 3 levels).  These would be done via the shop area by buying the level increase per item.  These could give you new 'abilities'/attributes to your axe for example Lvl 1 - default axe. Lvl 2 - axe flies further? - Lvl 3 - axe bounces off walls etc.

We have most of the functionality of the upgrade & shop system working in game but we haven't finalized how each element will be handled.  If you (or anyone else) has suggestions we'd love to hear!  Thanks again

I like that you buy stats with xp, rather than level up and get a fixed amount of skill points :-)

As for the weapon upgrade system I like the idea. Since you asked for suggestions, here's one:
I am one of those people that love customization, I could see the fun in being able to upgrade various aspects of the weapons. For instance you could upgrade the hilt of the axe which increases range/speed- Or upgrade the head which increases damage or crit rate (if any). Then maybe the maximum level for a weapon was like 5 or 10 (any number really), and the player then chose to spend those level as he/she desires on the weapon. This would also allow the player to customize the gear to suit his/her playstyle better.

Anyways, just my thoughts- You've already got a customer in me, from what you've explained/shown so far :-) Keep up the good work!

[DeadAlienCult]

We are experimenting with being able to level up your Axe, Sword, and Shield though  (each having 3 levels).  These would be done via the shop area by buying the level increase per item.  These could give you new 'abilities'/attributes to your axe for example Lvl 1 - default axe. Lvl 2 - axe flies further? - Lvl 3 - axe bounces off walls etc.

We have most of the functionality of the upgrade & shop system working in game but we haven't finalized how each element will be handled.  If you (or anyone else) has suggestions we'd love to hear!  Thanks again

I like that you buy stats with xp, rather than level up and get a fixed amount of skill points :-)

As for the weapon upgrade system I like the idea. Since you asked for suggestions, here's one:
I am one of those people that love customization, I could see the fun in being able to upgrade various aspects of the weapons. For instance you could upgrade the hilt of the axe which increases range/speed- Or upgrade the head which increases damage or crit rate (if any). Then maybe the maximum level for a weapon was like 5 or 10 (any number really), and the player then chose to spend those level as he/she desires on the weapon. This would also allow the player to customize the gear to suit his/her playstyle better.

Anyways, just my thoughts- You've already got a customer in me, from what you've explained/shown so far :-) Keep up the good work!

Appreciate the support and feedback.  As for the stat stuff, you give a pretty interesting idea - the one thing though is (for now atleast) we're trying to avoid giving too much customization as it not only makes things more complicated for us (implementation, game balancing, testing) but also makes things more complicated for the player - we kinda look at our game as more 'arcadey' (think Smash TV) mixed with dungeon/roguelite elements. So if we started to implement customization elements like you suggested (pretty cool idea btw) I feel it takes us more into the RPG realm which is not exactly what we're aiming for.  Cheers'

[DeadAlienCult]

We started working on our first boss fight (tho he's technically the Level 2 boss).  It's still pretty early and needs proper VFX and plenty of tuning/polish - but he's coming along!


*ignore the temp UI



In the final version he'll be riding a ''mist cloud'' thing of bats kinda like this...

During his ''butt stomp'' attack it acts as and AOE attack and the bat cloud will leave an expanding damage radius to avoid etc

[Vesper]

It reminds me of like a Diablo/Binding of Isaac remix.

[DeadAlienCult]

Both are influences in ways though i'd say less diablo.

[ndke]

I really like it that the dungeon levels are procedurally generated.
The graphics are amazing, I'm going to follow this!

[DeadAlienCult]

awesome thanks! 

[DeadAlienCult]

no idea what this means... 

[Jeff Skyrunner]

The graphics are amazing, and light effects and atmosphere very intriguing... keep up the very good job, guys!

[DeadAlienCult]

Thanks a lot Jeff!  We're doing what we can, when we can (we're only a couple dudes mostly part time at moment :\ )

[DeadAlienCult]

One of our more important updates that I realize we never...uh, updated anyone on...

We spent some time *vastly* improving our player movement control scheme as well as adding proper directional animation blending (and cloth sim cape movement).  

These 3 things not only make the player movement look SO much better overall, but make the control feel so much more fluid and responsive.   Pretty stoked on these additions to the game!

Below are some gifs to try and illustrate the changes (sorry for the large file size)...


Old and new:



In this older movement example, the player was forced to use both analog sticks to maneuver the environment, regardless of if you were aiming at a target or not (for the record, you WILL also be able to use keyboard & mouse controls if you prefer).  This made moving through a simple room/around objects super awkward and cumbersome, and if you didn't use both sticks - you'd end up running sideways or backwards a lot. Made things look really goofy and felt bad overall.  

Also in the above example, you'll notice there's no animation blending for the different directions the player runs in (all directions were only using a ''forward run cycle'' and it looked and felt awful and ''slidey''.  The cape looks like complete shit here as well because it has broken keyframes and was hand animated - where as the new stuff uses Shroud plugin for realtime cloth sim control.



In the new set up, we have the players directional movement mapped to the left stick, and right stick still acts as aiming and allows you to strafe still, as well as walk/run backwards etc.  We've added animation blending for the directional changes and updated the cape with the new cloth sim work.


Oh yeah, also made some candles to add to the Tomb level for small points of ambient lighting. Might need some tweaking stil but they add a nice touch overall to some of the rooms.



til next time - cheers!  

D.A.C.

[tieTYT]

Great graphics.  This looks like an action rpg (diablo, torchlight) but your description doesn't make it sound like it is.  Do I have that right?

[DeadAlienCult]

Great graphics.  This looks like an action rpg (diablo, torchlight) but your description doesn't make it sound like it is.  Do I have that right?

Thanks - and yep you're correct our game is more of a hybrid of fast paced dual stick shooter, with rogue-lite elements.  So it shares some mechanics and flow of games like Smash TV and Binding of Isaac - and does have a sense of exploration in that the dungeons are procedural and will encourage exploration in order to find secrets etc.  Hope that helps? A little spaced out right now haha

[DeadAlienCult]

Exciting update - A lot people have asked us to add local co-op and so we've listened and added it and it's fuckin fun! 



Also here's our new playable character; Brunhilde - the badass valkyrie!

[berniek]

We're doing what we can, when we can (we're only a couple dudes mostly part time at moment :\ )

Heh, this looks way too professional. No way you're newcomers.

[DeadAlienCult]

We're doing what we can, when we can (we're only a couple dudes mostly part time at moment :\ )

Heh, this looks way too professional. No way you're newcomers.

Ha thanks? We're a team of 4 and all of us are long time game developers who've been in the industry for a long time.  This is our first indie game together though!  I (andrew/artist) am the only one working full time-ish at the moment.

Pretty much got tired of getting laid off in the industry and always wanted to make my own games so i started Dead Alien Cult!

[DeadAlienCult]

A better look at Ms. Brunhilde...

[sandfella]

First time see this project... and it's looking great. Great style. Reheally like http://vikingghost.com/images/Screenshots/TIG/DevLog/batking1.gif

Good call on adding the local co-op. It made this right away even more interesting.

[DeadAlienCult]

First time see this project... and it's looking great. Great style. Reheally like http://vikingghost.com/images/Screenshots/TIG/DevLog/batking1.gif

Good call on adding the local co-op. It made this right away even more interesting.

Awesome thanks.  Yeah local co-op is really a cool feature for us and we're pretty excited about it.  It makes the game even more fun because you have to communicate with your friend and decide which way to go while exploring the dungeons and work together on who does or gets what.

We're also toying with the idea now of how we might be able to create simple puzzles that are designed for two people.  Yikes but cool!

[sandfella]

If action is the meat of the game, I'm not sure if puzzles help enhance that experience...

How about instead adding the type of puzzles where you have to figure out how to kill some monster. Maybe there's a creature that takes damage only when hit from behind, and it stuns you momentarily if it hits you. Only way to kill it would be that other guy dodges the attacks, while the other guy attacks backside.

Also: Left 4 Dead brought the "other guy has fallen down, get him up" type of cooperation. Something like that might suit well.

Just my 2 cents.