Vilya's Workblog

Today we decided to start having a bunch of smaller meetings again, as our work on the backlog of things to discuss has slowed down quite a bit. After the patch we're currently working on (entailing the loop function for arcade mode as well as the pin mechanic), we're going back to Story Mode with an update involving a bunch of side quests.

We've already mentioned that there will be two side quests relating to Marino's mansion, but as you may know we're also looking into sorting out the fertilizer mechanic, allowing you to grow those squiggly plants found around the world.

As part of that, one of the things we discussed and decided to add is another such plant in Seasonne, which will lead you to the giant tree stump which you couldn't access as of yet! This will lead to a reward of its own, as well as a shop where you will be able to purchase trees for you house - but it will also serve as a help to end the last part of Remedi the Alchemist's quest.

You will need to access the treestump, finish Fahrmamerahs quest in the desert and go into the mansion to find the ingredients to attempt another try at turning Remedi back into himself. It may or may not also include a fight against Remedi in his troll form, something we've all been excited for ever since Fred made the first couple animations for it way back, when it was supposed to be an enemy type in Mt: Bloom.

Next me and Fred will move on from what we're currently working on and start focusing on those things, starting off with the tree stump and its inhabitants!

With Fred finishing up the mirror sprite, I thought it fitting to throw together his portrait as well, while we wait to discuss exactly what will take place in the update coming after this recent Arcade rework:

So what Fred has started moving on to working with now is an entity you'll find in the final dungeon. While I said we'll focus on things not relating to the final dungeon for now, Fred has a lot of big animations to make for the last part of the game, so in order to avoid having a massive bottle neck where we'll have to wait for his animations, we've decided that he should start working on some end game stuff after all.

And first up in that regard is this strange mirror artefact, which will appear throughout the tower and throw challenges your way. Here's his progress on testing out various designs, as well as the one we picked in the end:

Time for some more minor additions and changes! First up, a button for when you talk to Bishop and decide to change the difficulty settings by adding or removing those loop orbs; which we've decided to call 'Catalysts'. The icon is supposed to indicate how you through this option can increase difficulty by adding another catalyst or decreasing the difficulty by removing one:

One of the oldest graphics in the game is that of the achievement trophy, so I decided to give it a quick makeover:

And finally, we decided to keep the Grindea-decorated fountains in Marino's mansion for another part of the game, so instead I've been making some bee decorations for them:

Another thing we've decided to add is discounted items at Shadier Merchant, the guy who sells you items in exchange for part of your max HP. There will now be a chance that one of the items is a particularly good deal; a stronger item for the level you're on, or it's priced lower. As such, I was tasked with making an indicator for discounted items:

It's also time for another Collector! We'll add a bunch of these to appear randomly during your adventures so it's high time we make a couple more:

Our polishing continues with some new gameplay changes, this time featuring the enemies in the Temple of Seasons! To start off with, the tornadoes now spawn around the mage and player, and their movement speed is a lot slower:

The season knight's spin can now be perfect guarded to push him away and make him stop:

And if you aim it well enough, he'll deal damage to his friends as he's pushed away:

In Freds department, he continues to make effects, both in general and for the loop orbs specifically. Here's a collection of his work this far:

As part of the new patch, we're adding and improving on a bunch of things both for Arcade and Story Mode. A few of those things involve new projectiles and 'tails' for projectiles to make them easier to read:

And as for a thing that won't make it's way into this patch but will be available soon is this nice butterfly net, which will be used as part of a quest given by Luigi in Evergrind City, granting you one of those fertilizer you'll use on the small plants you can find here and there across the game to make them grow:

Next up, some more gear for that set that will be used as part of a quest in the arena! These items aren't too good stat wise but they look sort of cool?! Will you be able to survive an arena challenge wearing only these things?

A little bit of news regarding the upcoming patch: unfortunately the cinema functions are quite broken and since we don't feel like it's vital for it to work before the patch (it will take quite a while to sort it out), we've decided to close the cinema for a little bit. People who haven't bought it yet will receive a warning that it currently doesn't work, while people who unlocked it already will get a slightly different interior:

Of course it's our goal that it won't remain like this for too long, and we hope it won't be too much of an inconvenience, but right now we'd really like to get the patch up and running sooner rather than later, so fixing the cinema will have to come second to that! :)

We continue to work on the various pin menus, and as a logical next step we need to make all sorts of graphics for the various places you'll be able to look at your pins or see how many you've seen so far. First up, the title for where you can look at what pins you currently have equipped in the menu:

And next, the "shop title" of the Pin Collector where you can see all of the pins you've found so far; we decided against giving it a proper name, and went with the route of only showing a variety of pins:

And of course, the button which allows you to get to said list:

Meanwhile, Fred has been playing around with a ton of effects for the Pin collector's appearance, as well as trying out some animations for the "loop orbs", seen below:

Aand giving the pin collector a bunch of animations as well, as can be seen here:

Our experiments with the Pin Collector's first appearance continues and we're now playing around with how the pins that scatter around him will look.

The difference between the above two are mainly the sizing of the pins. In the first video, the pins are all of the same size, while in the second one we've resized some to be smaller. Between the two of those, we prefer the one where the sizes aren't all exactly the same, but we weren't totally happy with the way they faded away, so we decided to try something else:

In this third version, the pins disappear with a bit more of a bang. We prefer this a lot as it gives the feel that the pins disappear into the world rather than simply fade away. However, we weren't completely happy with the timing, so we decided to change that a bit as well:

So in this version the timing is adjusted and the Pin Collector turns around. Of course, most of the graphics displayed here are placeholder graphics, his turn as well, so each of them will be improved in due time. But so far so good! :)

With the loops progressing, we're redesigning the Grindea statue a bit so make her sword bigger and more badass looking! We still haven't decided yet which type of crystal thingies we're going for but here goes:

The new improved sword with a variety of the crystals:

We're also considering mixing them so there will be one of each, or at the very least different colors for each one you unlock:

This last one is our favourite currently, but we'll see! More discussions to be had :)

Next, a bunch of expressions for the Pin collector so the cutscene in which he appears can be completed. As always, a lot of these expressions will probably not be used but I like to mix and match a couple extras just in case :)

As we continue toying with that loop idea mentioned last week, I've been fiddling around with some various ways to illustrate the difficulty increase. Our current idea is to showcase it as a type of orb or crystal you insert into the statue by Bishop, but this might change as we explore other ideas. For now though, here's a few of the experiments in action:

Meanwhile, Fred works on making all sorts of effects for the Pins and their various functions! Our goal is that every pin will have some sort of visual indicator for what they're doing, so there's a lot of random small effects to be made:

And then we have this one, an effect showing up as the Pin collector himself literally stumbles into the world of Arcadia! Soon it'll all be in place.. :)

One thing we've been talking about a lot recently is the difficulty setting for Arcade Mode and how to adjust it to make it the best possible experience for the most people. Our recent idea is to introduce something we call loops, that I think is a quite popular theme in roguelike style games: the game starts out fairly easy (well, not easy - but easier compared to the current default difficulty setting!), and once you've finished all floors once, you'll unlock a more difficult version.

This will be done through accessing an item you can activate through Bishop, and there will be more than one difficult increase; for instance, our current idea is that Arcade will begin on what could be equivalent to Story Mode's normal difficulty setting, then once you complete it once you'll access Arcade Mode's current difficulty setting through activating the item at Bishop. Complete that difficulty and you'll unlock another item that will trigger your next runs to be as difficult as the current difficulty setting plus Candy's Hard Mode curse.

The true ending for Arcade and the final battle would only be accessible if you manage to complete the whole game with all difficulty increasing items activated. You'll also be able to deactivate them if you find the difficulty has become too much for you to handle.

How do you feel about this "loop" idea? Is it something you think you'd enjoy or do you prefer it the way things are now?

Now, time for the last of James fans! We felt like two were a bit too few to give a sense of him having a following, so we decided to make one more:

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday! We've been busy turning the guest house into an office; which turns out involved two full days of carrying stuff back and forth as well as disassembling and reassembling a whole bunch of furniture... Phew!

Even after these two days we're not completely done; we've been looking into getting new desks (of the kind you can also use to stand up and work), and new, better chairs, seeing as we've had these for an incredibly long time and they're pretty much just the most basic type of IKEA chairs. I spent most of the evening yesterday doing some research on that topic, so hopefully we'll have a better and prettier looking office soon :)

For now though, it's good to be able to work together again! And being this close to home, it's a lot easier with lunch breaks and the like as well. Feels great so far!

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