Hey all! So I've been busy behind the scenes working on To Ash and Ember for a while now and I wanted to poke my head up to show you how things are cooking.
Generally speaking: I've got a pretty solid foundation at this point for the game's development and I'm about to start putting out private builds for those who're backing me on 'other services' (which I don't believe I'm allowed to link to on Steam?).
Anywho, lots to show and see here so I'm going to keep this news post rolling.
So firstly: I've refreshed the old screenshots on the Steam page. They were taken when the project was much younger and a lot more was unfinished or just-plain-half-framed. Since then I've been taking the time to visit all of the core systems and find ways and paths I felt worked well for the game.
This involved a lot of R&D and throwing concepts in and then throwing them out if I felt they didn't play or 'feel' right. There's been casualties: the card-based combat system just got too unwieldy. Minor combats were taking minutes where I was hoping that most combats could be resolved in under a minute.
The mechanics-load on that part of the game also started getting to be bigger than the rest of the whole game combined so I decided to cut it off before it started overrunning the project with feature-creep to substantiate itself.
So we're back to the old system that debuted in the Unity version of the project; a turn-based ATTACK/SPELL/ITEM/RUN choice solo-on-solo duel. I didn't feel the old system I made in Unity (an Action-Point-based input-string approach inspired by World of Horror) ultimately worked well for this approach to strategy horror, but I also wanted to see if I could improve and innovate on my inspiration for Combat (that being the 2nd Edition of the Arkham Horror boardgame).
So, being that the Investigator is a being gifted with both Prophecy and Freedom, I decided a good twist would be giving enemies attack patterns which you could read 'one step in advance of' at all times (down to how much Damage they'd be doing that turn), while also seeing what damage you would do if you attacked. This allows you as the player to literally stay one step ahead of Foes who are generally much stronger and more dangerous than you are. Spells and Items meanwhile might not take your turn, may let you pile up to really hammer down on foes (the base design being somewhat inspired by the excellent minimalist horror strategy game 'NO SKIN'), or may let you reach in to that Foe's attack pattern and hit it instead of dealing damage.
So far in tests the combats run a lot faster, I feel more satisfied when they're done, and they're deep enough that even though you can somewhat 'solve' encounters just by knowing your enemy that the point is to conserve as much of your resources as you can -- and you can't control *everything* in a fight. (For instance, you have to save each round against the Foe's Horror or take Willpower damage and you don't know the result of that in advance)
On another front of design: one of the major background elements I've been trying to get in (and have finally successfully done so) is World Events. World Events are basically ticking bombs that will show up from time to time on the map. While they're active they'll generate some measure of Terror each turn, accelerating the return of the Slaughtered God, but in a minor enough fashion that you don't *have* to deal with them immediately.
Letting them run out, however, causes the event to expire -- often resulting in some minor catacylsm which can range from dealing you damage to increasing the Danger Level (which is what is rolled against in the background when you investigate in a given Location as to whether or not you have a Random Encounter and also determines whether Shops and Services in the area are inaccessible), prompting a new World Distortion ahead-of-schedule, or just flatly heaping Terror onto The City.
With World Events in, The City is feeling more alive than ever, and there's now even more moment-to-moment consideration of 'what should I be doing right now; where can I do the most good for the least cost'. I loved the Rumors system in Arkham Horror and am super-happy to be able to bring that sort of meta-narrative-element in To Ash and Ember.
I won't go in to every dark alley and plumbworks I've delved into the past couple of months, though. Suffice to say I've been keeping busy and my elbows greased with the offal of the deep parts of this game. It's paid off now in that I have finally reached a stable 'Foundation' for the game. There's still a ton of systems and things that need to be implemented for it to really start shaping up to how I hoped it'd be, but what's in now can really be called a game even if the amount of content at this time is low.
So, that's what I'd worked on. What I'm working on now is getting ready to build LOTS and LOTS of CONTENT. Stories, events, monsters, items, spells, curses, afflictions, characters, deities, locations, encounters, loot, investigators, scenarios, and even worlds. The stuff this dark dream is made of.
Super happy to share more as I work on this game with everyone. Spread the news! The more wishlists and activity this game gets, the more confidently I can invest myself into it.
