Hello everyone!
I wanted to share some information about how the sequel is coming along today. It will cover what's already in the game, what's not going to be in the game, and what to most likely expect. This time I was smart about it and wrote down the PRECISE moment I started the project, so it's not "about 4 years" or whatever.
Screenshots will be included where possible however some may not be 100% current and of course will most likely change (for the better!) later.
But not this one, this one is current (2/10/21).
WHAT IS IT??
The sequel to Equin: The Lantern is my 2nd ever roguelike. It encompasses most of what a "traditional roguelike" usually has, according to the Berlin interpretation.
E2 has:
- Randomly-generated levels with random gear
- Turn-Based movement
- Tile-Based grid
- Permadeath
Aside from those points the game continues the PROUD TRADITION of the first and these make a TRIUMPHANT RETURN:
- Four returning classes: Warrior, Thief, Wizard, & Cleric (Sorry Cultist, not this time!)
- First-Person view battle system ala Dragon Quest
- Auto Killing enemies after reaching certain character levels by bumping into them
- The Hit Streak meter where upon filling it you'll gain an XP bonus modifier
- No selling of items is necessary- Simply scrap items from your pack for instant cash
- All the HUMOR you loved(?) from the first game, because I can't change my brain
The project is being worked on by a single person, which is usually how I like to do things. It was started on May 20th, 2020. Now let's get into some of the interesting stuff!
WHAT'S DIFFERENT?
I'm kind of planning this as I go, seat of the pants style. The first thing I did was take the constructive criticisms of Equin: The Lantern into account and go from there (i.e. all the reviews that weren't "THIS GAEM IS SUXX0RS GIT GUB!!1!")
So which points in particular have been addressed?
The playfield area is larger
A common criticism of ETL is that the play field seems much too zoomed in and you can't really see what's right around the corner. It's something you definitely do get used to, but I can understand the sentiment. Mind you, when the game was first made it was solely for myself to play with my kids so I just kind of whipped it up to have fun. I had no idea that 10 years down the road it'd be featured on the biggest internet storefront since sliced bread or whatever.
An older screenshot, but the viewing area IS indeed larger.
To that end, E2's viewing area is 7x7 tiles, vs. the 5x5 tiles in ETL. Additionally there is a strip on the right side of the screen that lists all of your important stats and vitals. I wanted to do away with having a separate screen that only exists to show stats, like this one from the first game:
This strip remains regardless of whether you're moving your guy around in the dungeon or looking at the contents of your backpack. I dunno, I like this change!
The Action Command has been greatly expanded upon
Like the first game, I wanted its sequel to have an easy to learn control scheme. Personally I find myself put off / intimidated often with many traditional roguelikes, as they have these super-complex controls with a million key commands. I don't want the controls to be the barrier which stops you from enjoying my stuff after all!
In the first game, walking next to or on top of something prompts a little FLASHIE-DOO in the bottom corner and lets you know you can press the space bar to take that action. Sometimes though pressing the space bar would trigger multiple actions all at once (not good!) For a common example you might be next to a well whilst also on top of a chest. Pressing space bar would open the chest and drink the water, however only one pop up message would occur. If that chest were outside a shop door you'd enter the shop and completely miss out on whatever you just picked up. So this for sure had to change.
The old style prompt system, aka "Flashie-Doo"
Now what happens is NO prompt will appear (so far, it's complicated you'll see). Whenever you're next to or on top of something you'd like to interact with, simply press the space bar to call up a small menu of possible action(s) on the right side of the screen. If you can't interact with anything, nothing happens and the menu doesn't appear. However if there's at least 1 possible action then you'll have the option to perform it as well as "cancel" / exit said menu:
The new style menu system, which shows you exactly what you'll interact with so there's no confusion.
The Inventory / Backpack is way way better
I just love how well this came out. It takes methods I learned from my last game (Bone Appetit) and fuses them with how I did it with "Just a Cleric". One point of contention with me and ETL was that I had to click on an item to pull up its individual stats and flavor text. E2 does away with having a separate pop up and instead you can now see any selected item's stats and info just by moving the square selector over it. This counts for items currently equipped as well:
You might be surprised to learn that the starter staff is actually really good this time around
To equip an item, simply select it and press the space bar. A list of possible actions will again come up on the side. If your class can equip it, you'll see..... "EQUIP"! Wow, who saw that coming?? In addition, you'll get the option to once again SCRAP any item for instant cash which is just the best. If an item is able to be USED like a torch or DRUNK like a potion these options will also appear. And if you just plum screwed up good ol' CANCEL will be there for you as well.
Old screenshot of me scrapping an item. A prompt will appear in case you selected it by accident.
Equipped gear now shows up on your guy
Purely cosmetic (and way more work than usual) but I love this change a lot. Holding a greatsword? There it is! Want to slap a stupid-looking pointy hat on your thief for shits and giggles? Well there it is too! Actually sometimes this influences what gear I use, picking lesser stuff over stronger things. Weird, I know.
Brass armor? There it is!
Classes now have options for their skills
Upon reaching levels 3 and 7 you'll now have a choice between 2 possible skills this time. For example at level 3 the Thief has a choice between a Dodge ability or Poison Darts. Each is very useful, but very different. This is a great way to encourage variety.
Having a simple choice like this really makes a big difference to any given run.
You can't run from fights
I think in the 1000 hours or whatever I've played the first game I maybe ran away less than 50 times total. TOTAL. I just didn't see this as being super important to include this time, so it's not in there. This also freed up a spot in the battle system so every one of the 6 possible actions is important.
Stamina is easier to recover now
Some ETL reviews mentioned that stamina was used for everything (which is mostly true) and that it was basically game over if you ran out (also mostly true). This time though I wanted to make it so that while stamina is for sure important, it was easier to get back. To that end, here are some ways you can get your stamina back currently:
- Walking around normally (recovers faster than walking in ETL, 1 point per 20 steps or so)
- Waiting around (recovers very quickly- about 1 point per 5 turns skipped)
- Drinking water from a well
- Drinking a bottled water
- Drinking a bottle of pond water (though not advised!)
- Drinking a green potion (recovers 100% stamina instantly)
- Drinking a verdant potion (stamina regen / 1 point per step)
- Resting at a campfire (which spawn more often in this game than ETL)
There is water now
Water has been greatly expanded upon in E2 over the first game. In ETL, you could sometimes have small, 1 tile ponds appear. In E2 though you can potentially get giant lakes like this:
Just watch out for them thar crocs!
When this happens, it's just the best. Water really adds a new strategic element to the game as most enemies can't swim while you can. Taking a swim will cost you 1 point of stamina per backstroke though, so you don't want to make a habit of staying in the water for too long. As of right now having 0 stamina will not cause you to drown. I MAY change this. I know that sounds harsh but hey these games are supposed to be challenging, right?
Also something to note about water: Flying enemies can cross it. There are also some... certain enemies that live in deep water and can only move while IN said water. They might be submerged, waiting for delicious-looking rabbits to appear at the water's edge. They may also be super deadly. Well, you'll see!
If you do happen to get into a fight while in the water you'll have a big -15% chance to evade attacks. I mean it only makes sense, right? Try to fight wizards next time you're in the pool. It won't turn out well I'll bet.
The shops are improved
I'm really happy with this next change. Entering a shop brings about an expanded place to buy things at. You'll see a random selection of 7 items, of both 'common' and 'rare' tiers. You can buy things at your leisure now because this time exiting the shop will NOT seal the door. This is nice as it now acts like EVERY OTHER SHOP IN THE HISTORY OF VIDEO GAMES.
Another older screenshot of the shop. It's been improved since this was taken!
Also another cool thing is that every time a floor is generated with a shop, there's a 10% chance that they'll be running a 50% off sale. That goes for everything in the store! The last bit I want to bring up is that upon making your selection you will have the option to attempt to STEAL the item instead. This goes for ALL classes, not just the thief. And you can try this as early as level 1, though good luck with that! Unlike the first game where getting caught Blacklisted you from all shops until the end of time in E2 getting caught will summon some XGA Guards to the rescue, who are very tough. If you can manage to escape the floor alive they will not follow you, and the next shopkeeper will be unaware that you're a low down dirty thief. So why not try it again??
Not gonna' lie, this battle did not go too well
Gear can now be upgraded, and other stuff
Like the first game, there will be many different pieces of specific gear for your hero to wear and use. by 'specific' I mean any "Sword" you find will always have the same stats as the next "Sword" you find. I originally did try to make it more akin to how Diablo does it, example "Firey Sword of Death" but unfortunately that turned out to be a giant pain in the ass, since I'm also making everything show up on your character.
The compromise though is really nice. You will now have the ability to upgrade any piece of common, rare, or unique gear up to 3 times (i.e. Sword+1, Sword+2, etc). While this may sound simplistic and lazy I assure you it's not. See the thing with this game is each upgrade dramatically changes each item differently. It's not always going to be "Sword does 2 damage, Sword+1 does 3 damage, hurr durr" because personally I hate when games I play do this.
Some examples:
- Each upgrade to an Axe increases is damage greatly as well as its critical hit chances, at the cost of less chance to hit things / -% accuracy
- Wands will only ever have an attack power of 1, but gain big boosts to your MAG stat while equipped.
- Swords gain both damage and accuracy per upgrade
- Staff-class weapons gain a small amount of damage but increased evasion %.
- The aforementioned "Pointy Hat" gains lots of max stamina, but has no defense (good for spells!)
- Iron Armor gains tons of defense but incurs a big DEX penalty, which in turn affects your ability to disarm traps, steal items, or pick locks.
Other things to consider with gear is that all weapons have a special secondary function in battle. A staff has the ability to strike twice at 70% damage per turn. Maces have a bludgeoning effect that reduces enemy defensive power. Spears can pierce defense totally but require two hands so you can't use a shield at the same time. Etc etc, this stuff is fun to make!
No "Short Sword Clones" here!
As with the first game I'm really going out of my way to come up with some cool and interesting items for the player to find. Ever play a game that goes like this: Find a sword, it does 2 damage. Found a bigger sword! It does.. 3 damage? Wow look I found an awesome firey sword and.. it does 4 damage? What!? No fire damage? Nothing special? Slightly more damage? BOO!
I call these "Short Sword Clones". Castlevania Symphony of the Night has this problem big-time. Tons of weapons but half of them are just scaling attack power. Wowee. I realize that every game has to have this A BIT but for E2 I really want to get away from that as much as possible. If you've played Bone Appetit that game also has many different weapons that at least have different applications for the most part, so that somebody at the very end of the game might still find a use for the lowly dagger.
So in E2 gear is divided into 3 categories: Common / Rare / Unique. I can tell you right now if you find a unique you're going to be happy. They can often do incredible things, like critical hit boosts on an amulet or a powerful mace that protects you vs. undead damage. How about a sword that can strike an enemy with disease that grows more powerful if you yourself are also diseased? Yeah man, now we're talking!
Rare items are no slouch either. Slap on a Ring of Phasing and walk through solid walls. Drink an Aqua Potion and swim without losing stamina. Grab a Rapier and riposte any enemy for critical damage after you successfully block with your shield. Yeah!
Even the lowly common items can be awesome, as OH BY THE WAY DIDN'T I MENTION anything you grab out of a chest can already come pre-upgraded for you! While unlikely it's entirely possible to find a fully upgraded suit of Iron Armor+3 on the first floor of the first chest. And now that common item is superior to many rares or uniques you'll find down the road. I'm trying to make it so that everything has a purpose in this game, and that individual player choices matter. There shouldn't always be a set "This is the best stuff in the game / cookie-cutter crapola" in every game, after all!
Unique items in this game are actually unique, and provide bonuses or powers not found elsewhere.
There will be several different-themed dungeons to explore
My idea this time around is that after selecting your character, you then will have the choice to tackle dungeons in different orders. For now, they are themed (only the jungle temple one has been shown thus far, since that's all that currently exists!) Each dungeon will be probably between 10-15 floors deep, with a boss at the bottom. When the boss is destroyed (or bypassed, not sure on this yet) you'll receive a nice reward of your choosing. Then you'll be taken back to the dungeon select screen to choose another of the remaining dungeons to try.
You will likely need to clear 4 dungeons, and then have the 5th and final dungeon unlock to win the run. One might be littered with undead. Another might be often rainy with poisonous traps. Another may be frozen solid. Choose however you want to go about it for yourself! As you can see, this should make for some interesting player strategies!
I will again be doing the music with real instruments
The plan is to do another soundtrack with drums and all that but instead this time have a super heavy focus on piano and etc. Seeing as keyboard / piano is easily my 4th best instrument this is challenging in its own right. However since ol' COVID has hit the world I've been able to really practice a lot and have already come up with some great little pieces. Now I just need to work on my timing on drums, as I'm all over the damn place on the demos I've recorded so far!
IN CLOSING
Well holy crap, what a read! If you're still awake I want to thank you for taking the time to read all this. I am really working hard to bring you a really great game, and it's getting better all the time! As always if you guys have any suggestions that you think might improve this game, by all means say so! I might not be able to do everything, but I do read everything and take it to heart.
P.S: Should the character drown if you run out of stamina while swimming? Is that too harsh? Maybe you could lose 1 HP per step if you also are at 0 stamina? Hmmm, that's actually not half bad!
P.S #2: If you use reddit, here is the ETL page. I post updates there more often.
Thanks and have a good one!
-Del_Duio / Dave
