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[jg.camarasa]

Hello!

For a few months I’ve been working on this project and I’m ready to share the progress with you.

In this DevLog I will be sharing parts of the process, videos, images and thoughts.

I will start with a small snippet of the current process so far but more is definitely to come!

[Dr. Büni]

Heeey! Curious about how you will handle things such as deck size, cards variety, etc. Also, from the video it seems like each card has an amount of uses before it runs out?

[jg.camarasa]

Heeey! Curious about how you will handle things such as deck size, cards variety, etc. Also, from the video it seems like each card has an amount of uses before it runs out?

Hey Dr. Büni!

That's a great question for sure. I still don't have the details down as mixing realtime combat with card play is proving to be tricky. Nothing is set on stone and I plan to go more into detail in the future but the thing goes more or less like this:

- There are two kind of cards: Spells and Buffs. Spells are self-explanatory and Buffs affect Spells, other Buffs or player's attributes.

- Options to add cards to the deck won't appear as frequently as in other games like Slay the Spire, specially Spells. In my mind the player will usually hold about 4-5 different Spells at most in a deep run.

- When a card's uses run out it goes to the discard pile but will come back when the deck reshuffles (although I plan on cards that can be used only X times per combat).

- A new card is drawn to the hand every X seconds, to a max of 4.

- Some Spells are powerful but will have a low number of uses (i.e. Electroshock in the video is single-use). Others have higher capacity (Fire Ball) but lower damage.

- With these rules the player has to carefully balance powerful and filler Spells to maximize DPS. Example: if you fill your deck with powerful cards with little uses you will ofter find yourself without cards in the hand.

This is likely to change, balance is being hard atm, but let's see how it goes!

[Dr. Büni]

It can be tricky, for sure. I found your project particularly interesting - aside from the concept itself being interesting - it is because I too am working on a rogue(lite) with card mechanics, but the way I am doing is very different. I will let you know more once I announce the project, but the cards play more of a supportive role in my project rather than taking the spotlight.

Anyways, back to your project. If the player has only access to a handful of spells in a run, I am thinking runs are either very short or the buffs affect the spells significantly to give the player enough novelty? Novelty is what drives rogue-lites (not sure about -likes, but I suppose it is similar?).

Having limited powerful spells in the deck is a good way to do it. Another thing you can implement is more common powerful spells that have drawbacks (such as costing health, leaving the player vulnerable, etc) so it is up for the player if they are willing to the take risks or not.

Looking forward to more updates.

[jg.camarasa]

You raise very interesting points!

You are correct in the sense that I will try to rely a lot on Buffs to shape each run differently. This is for a very simple reason: Buffs cost less to produce than Spells, which require more VFX, modelling and programming work. After all I'm just one person and I want to keep the scope limited. In addition to that I also want to add passive items (like Relics on StS) that noticeably alter the run.

Overall I'm not aiming to having super deep mechanical depth and I'll try to make up for it by adding other motivations to replay, but this is so far in the future that I'm not really sure

Will be definitely looking forward to your project as it sound really interesting! Thanks for the comments.

[jg.camarasa]

Small funny update, this is how the game looked 6 months ago (sorry for the slowmo gif):



Would you guys be interested in seeing the full progress up until now?

[Dr. Büni]

Yup, I totally get you on focusing on buffs.

I would be interesting in reading on how you got to the current version of the project, yes.

[jg.camarasa]

Preparing a big update soon, but for now here's a sneak peek of an Altar Room!

[jg.camarasa]

Damn, too much since I updated here!

First of all, the game has now a name:

Galaia

I just released a small video showcasing the main HUB of the game, the portal on Galaia Island.





Do you like the vibe?

[jg.camarasa]

And to compensate for weeks of no updating, here is the new card design!




And here is how they look while on the spell-selector deck:

[Suttebun]

I'm really interested in that metal diamond.. and the portal.. Really cool.

[jg.camarasa]

Thanks Suttebun! Glad things look mysterious enough to be interesting!

[MattMakesSwords]

Ice spikes are so cool!! that sound though 10/10 also gotta say that that walk animation is the cutest I love it. Seems like a really fun concept using the cards in conjunction with the top down. I imagine there is great potential for strategy in a system like that. Are there any other mechanics from card games that you are going to introduce gameplay wise as well? 

[jg.camarasa]

Hey Matt, thanks for the comment!

Right now this devlog is a mess because the development is being a mess, in a good sense. I'm experimenting and iterating a lot both regarding visual style and game mechanics so things are really bound to change everytime I come here.

Still, I feel I'm reaching an artstyle that I'm confortable with, and I'm simplifying the game mechanics which I think it will be for the best. So maybe I'm not too far from being able to doing a proper post in here with some juicy info.

In the meantime, here's a bit of gameplay from the latest build:





Cheers!

[Suttebun]

Gameplay looks comfortable! I have a random suggestion, you should take advantage of 3d and give the combat some dimension.

edit: an example being.. can I jump? What happens if I attack while being in the air?
Do enemies get knocked into the air? Can I throw bombs at them.. that bounce off their heads and hit other enemies? Will the camera break in some fun way if I throw too many enemies into a certain part of the frustum

Also the music is a bit grand and orchestral beyond listening.

keep it up jg camarasa

[jg.camarasa]

Hey Suttebun, thanks for dropping a comment!

For now adding a 3rd dimension to the gameplay would complicate things too much given that I'm still figuring out the 2D gameplay. Still I have a few ideas that might exploit this a bit, like arching bombs or flying enemies

Dropping here some new gameplay with improvements to the combat and targeting indicators that should make the game easier to read. Also present a new type of enemy drops a mine when killed




Also, letting you guys know that I'm regularly streaming the development of the game on twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/castorhouse

Sadly the stream is Spanish only but if you happen to know the language or if you just like to watch you are most welcome!

[Suttebun]

Okay, well adding a 3rd dimension doesn't have to mean building Super Mario 64.

If your game is flat then you're missing out on having your game be better ~ more fun.
All those cards could really go a long way if you drop the present mobile mmo schema and start launching things in arcs.

Just look at how much fun BombSquad is with the inclusion of a third dimension. It makes you, THE PLAYER, think!

[jg.camarasa]

I'm not posting lots of updates nor streaming, but doesn't mean I'm not working hard!

Last few days worked on defining the final art style along with the needed tooling and pipeline. Still needs some work but I'm really happy with how's it looking so far!





BONUS: The new card system is almost done and I hope I can show it soon!

[jg.camarasa]

More work on the art! I think I'm getting close!

[jg.camarasa]

This project is still going on! Refining the art little by little and adding new features. Please take a look at this chest room!





Do you like it?