Return of the Pixel Ferrets

Yesterday was the first day that all three of us were back in town after visiting our families and the like. To celebrate we went out to eat at a local fast food place where we could talk about our holiday and also discuss the state of the game and the next things we'll be doing.

Here's a rundown of some of the Secrets of Grindea-related things we talked about:

Yay for healthy food...!

The State of the Beta
It's been a long while since we updated the beta, including the frontline version which was supposed to be updated often but with smaller things. In a way, frontline has kind of turned into the stable version, since we only update it once we've added a bunch of stuff, and only after it's already been tested a lot by ourselves or our close friends. We want to change this, turning frontline into what we said it would be: many smaller updates which are in need of testing. After all, that's kind of the purpose of the beta anyway, right?

So, our goal is to update the frontline version of the beta once the hydra has been properly balanced, allowing you to play through most of what we currently have made for the Temple of Seasons. The stable version will probably be updated once the temple is complete, though in hindsight we kind of feel it should have been updated when we finished the Toy Factory.

Sketching the "Obstacle Course"

The Hydra Mini-Boss
We talked about what else we could do to balance or change this fight to make it more entertaining/challenging. We decided that the fire hydra would spew less fire, but that the effect (and the effect of the other heads as well) would remain permanently on the ground until you change to another season. This means you have another incentive to change season and not just stay with the same head until it's dead.

The Obstacle Course
We've also started designing one of the final rooms of the Temple of Seasons, which we've always called the "obstacle course" without really being sure of what exactly will happen in that room. Now we've made a few sketches and came up with a few ideas, which we'll prototype and play around with once we've updated the beta. Basically it will involve spikes, wind and ice. And some particularly difficult enemies!

The Temple of Seasons Boss
We started discussing exactly what kind of attacks we want it to have, how it'll move around, basically what the fight should feel like. We listed a bunch of attacks we're quite happy with, and made some major changes from what we originally planned, but we'll continue talking about this at a later date as there's some major decisions still to be made. The overall design is pretty much settled though, and Fred has started sketching some visual suggestions which you might get a sneak peek of later on!

A bunch of notes

We also talked a lot about smaller stuff, like the design of certain card drops, or what certain props or animations should look like. In total, we probably sat there for about 3 hours, planning and discussing what to do next before returning to the office. 

Apparently, work meetings take quite some time! :)