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[Ian_A]

I really like the new creature--I find it strange and interesting. ^_^

Looking at its attack animations, I'm guessing that it's a mêlée attacker with some sort of burst attack, likely radial--am I correct?

Not sure yet. The initial idea for this enemy design was an enemy that is invisible, when idling/walking/running, and then appears when attacking or getting hurt. We may end up making just a straight totally visible version as well too. It's also going to have some cool drippy gross tentacles where his jaw would be!

[Thaumaturge]

Interesting--how then does the player find it to hit it--aside from waiting to be hit and trying to dodge or parry as it does? Can one hear (or see) its footsteps, or see a faint shimmer, perhaps?

Honestly, I quite like it without the tentacles--but I daresay that I'll like it well enough with them.

[Ian_A]

Interesting--how then does the player find it to hit it--aside from waiting to be hit and trying to dodge or parry as it does? Can one hear (or see) its footsteps, or see a faint shimmer, perhaps?

Honestly, I quite like it without the tentacles--but I daresay that I'll like it well enough with them.

Yup we should have a lot of audio cues for the player, and maybe even footsteps 

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, excellent--that sounds like an interesting encounter, then! ^_^

[Ian_A]

Hey everyone, Ian here, artist and game designer on Crimson Keep. It's been a little while since our last article/major update, but rest assured we are working hard on the game and it's coming along nicely. The biggest news is that we have a publisher! It's Merge Games. They have a large number of indie games under their belt, and have also done physical copies for some pretty well known titles. Without their help we'd be looking at releasing on Greenlight (or whatever it becomes) before the product is truly ready. And though we may still release into early access (games like ours (randomly generated, focus on replayability) tend to do well there), we have a lot more work to do on the game. An added bonus of working with a publisher like Merge are avenues to release our game on PS4, XBONE, and even Switch. Very exciting!



Shields have been a highly requested feature for awhile, and it's somewhat of a contentious subject for me. On one hand shields, historically, play a very important role in any medieval setting, on the other, they can end up overpowered in games, sometimes hurting the experience. One shield in the history of gaming that comes to mind is the Counterstrike riot shield, which was well known at the time for making people very, very mad. My first trips through Dark Souls 1 and 3 both used the shield as a crutch, great shields when used properly made parts of both those games trivial. But I don't want to say that's necessarily a bad thing, the variety of play styles and equipment types in Dark Souls, is without a doubt one of its greatest strengths. And in the end I think Crimson Keep will be able to do one better than Dark Souls, forcing players out of their comfort zone if they are to 100% the game (This will require unlocking achievements for different classes, and while meeting certain criteria). All that being said, I realized we had to have shields in our game, but wanted to make them a little different.

All shields block 100% of the damage they block. I've never liked shields that only partially block, why use a shield at all then? The player should just dodge instead!
The Shield's block function replaces your weapon's special ability while equipped. This is essentially the penalty for using the shield, the player still has access to every other offensive ability though.
Shields break. Shields have a chance to break when you block an attack. Some enemies can also do special attacks that can break a shield outright depending on the strength of that shield.
In the end I think players will like our shields and these ideas. One of the things we're pushing in Crimson Keep is that feeling of desperation, resources are scarce, monsters are everywhere, and oh shit a Pigman just broke my shield



Since our last major update we've also worked on several areas of visual polish. The most notable being blood decals on enemies, and also dropped onto the environment (from gibs) when you use melee attacks on enemies. Honestly I think blood and gore can add to the fun factor to a game, so it's great to get some of it in there! We've also setup quite a few particle effects, sounds, and supplemental animations to help better telegraph the player's own abilities, which is more important than I initially thought!

As always, thank you for following along with our game! You can check out the game's website here: Escapecrimsonkeep.com and follow our twitter for more updates and content! Twitter.com

Thanks!

[Thaumaturge]

Congratulations on finding a publisher! I hope that the relationship works out well. ^_^

I think that I can see your approach to shields working, although I'd want to experience it myself to opine with confidence.

... telegraph the player's own abilities, which is more important than I initially thought!

Would you elaborate on this a little, please? I usually think of "telegraphing" in the sense of having an action be (to some degree) apparent noticeably before it takes effect, and primarily being applied to enemies so that the player can read those actions early, and thus respond in time. Is this something similar, and if so, in what ways are you finding it to be important for player abilities?

[Ian_A]

Would you elaborate on this a little, please? I usually think of "telegraphing" in the sense of having an action be (to some degree) apparent noticeably before it takes effect, and primarily being applied to enemies so that the player can read those actions early, and thus respond in time. Is this something similar, and if so, in what ways are you finding it to be important for player abilities?

Yeah, I misused the term a bit there, I guess I really meant 'feedback' or something. I was referring to us adding unique FX and sounds for every action the player can take. What I've learned through our testing is that even if an action/status is hugely beneficial to the player, often times they won't use/understand it unless there is some kind of unique visual/audio feedback. Think: Star power-up in the original Super Mario Bros. without the flashing and music.

First look at the sewers:

[Thaumaturge]

Aah, I see--"feedback" makes rather more sense, I think! In that case, I do agree: I daresay that perceptible responses to the player's actions can help to convey to the player that something has happened, and in some cases help to convey the nature of what has happened.

(Perhaps especially so with combat actions in a game such as yours: things like parries, blocks, hits, etc. may be easily missed if not accompanied by feedback, I suspect.)

As to the sewers, that looks like a decent start, I think. If the stuff dripping from the pipe overhead is intended to be a liquid, then it looks a little misty to me--especially given that it fades away before it hits the ground. Of course, if it's supposed to be some sort of supernatural effluent, or is simply unfinished, then fair enough!

[Ian_A]

Working on a crossbow. Should be the next ranged weapon in the game!

[Ian_A]

Crossbow shooting work in progress!

[Ian_A]

A spidery death...

[Thaumaturge]

I like those little creatures! ^_^

(They do look like they might be quite the pain in combat!)

[Ian_A]

A couple more weird beasties. The Fungoid is mainly for a witch class ability, but I already made it, sooo it could end up as a normal enemy as well.

[Ian_A]

A shrine you can use to follow Grool, the first god we've added to the game.

[Thaumaturge]

Interesting--what are the effects of following Grool?

[io3 creations]

At first, I thought it said Drool!

I like the visual style and the character designs.

[Ian_A]

Interesting--what are the effects of following Grool?

Grool is a melee focused deity so it grants more hitpoints melee damage and weapon speed once you have earned its respect.

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, fair enough! How is respect earned? Dedicated side-quests, or constraints placed on play-style, perhaps?

[Ian_A]

Ah, fair enough! How is respect earned? Dedicated side-quests, or constraints placed on play-style, perhaps?

Long-term I'd like it to involve playstyle, like dungeon crawl stone soup does, but for now it's just killing enemies in the name of a god, praying at an altar, or defacing the altar of another god.

[Thaumaturge]

Ah, fair enough, and thank you for the elaboration! I hope that you do manage to implement the play-style elements--I think that they could place some interesting constraints on players.