This week we've been working on a few features which we don't ship today as they're too big to complete them within one week's sprint. The same relates to the upgrades in user interface: we're still updating Alchemic Cauldron and Encounter screens, which will get a total makeover with one of the upcoming builds. But this is not to say that we're not shipping any improvements with this week's build ;). We finally started untangling the sequence encounter flow, and made progress there.
Detailed release notes are on the game's forum, as well as below.
UPDATED INDICATION OF ACTIVE OPPONENT, INDICATION OF INTENDED TARGET
The flow of the encounter is extremely important to us. While the code works as intended already for a few weeks by now, a lot of things are still happening too fast to keep track of them – and in different parts of the screen, which poses an additional challenge. Moreover, some of the complex mechanics are not exposed enough.
Two steps we made this week towards a better flow:
- the opponent that is going to act, is now highlighted with the red device (shown on the screen below)
- the intended targets are now indicated, as well as the intended actions (below, you can see the Shadow is dealing Fear)
We also slowed down the visualisation of all token interactions, as a temporary measure that somewhat helps to keep track of the complex events.
As an example of what we still have to improve in the coming weeks, consider the following:
- player party issues Damage to Corpse that already has Fear
- the corpse receives Damage as well as additional Fear (such is the combination of these tokens)
- the corpse is then destroyed, and issues a token of Infection to a party member
The current build lacks the description of why exactly the bonus Fear is issued, as well as the indication of the outcome ("destroyed"), and the reason for the Infection token that's dealt (it is dealt from the corpse, as the consequence of its destruction).
This is the sort of things that we'll continue to visualise with the coming updates, until all is loud and clear.
UPDATED TOKEN INTERACTION
Another improvement in the encounter flow: when two tokens clash and absorb each other, there's now the actual animation of them clashing, followed by the name of the mechanic ("Absorbed!"). See below for what happens when Acid is dealt to the character that has Protection.
PROOF OF CONCEPT FOR MULTI-STAGE ENVIRONMENT EFFECTS
Yet another improvement in the encounter flow that required a proof of concept is the separation of "passive" and "active" states of environmental effects. Shown here is the "passive" Burning ground, followed by its "active" visualisation. You can also see on the second screenshot that Burning ground indicates its intended targets, and previews the intended action (1 Fire to each of the three characters).
We think this change makes it easier to grasp, how exactly the environmental effects work (and when do they kick in), so we'll scale up this solution to other effects just as well.
GETTING READY TO BRING A FEW MORE CONTROLS TO TRAVEL MODE
Three more buttons made it into the travel mode:
- center the map on player party
- open party's profile
- display party's sustenance level and its food supplies
All of these buttons are not yet functional, as we're still busy with the underlying code, but we already wanted to push them out to test their placement during the coming week.
TOOLTIPS FOR INJURIES, DISEASES, LASTING EFFECTS ARE NOW FUNCTIONAL
Meanwhile, the indicators of lasting effects, injuries and diseases shown under character portraits on the party panel are finally functional! If there's anything to show, the icon lights up – displaying the details as a tooltip. This makes it easier to see, if any of your "point men" need a replacement before you jump into another encounter.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Next week, we'll keep biting into the larger mechanics (hunger, cooked food and travel magic as well as game log) while aiming for steady progress with the improvements of encounter flow and user interface. We also re-started sending in-game texts to translators (Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Korean), since a number of areas in the game is now stable enough to allow us to proceed with the localization.
While we won't enter general Early Access this month, we're getting closer to that moment with every week. And we already started working on the design of the chapters that preceded and follow the currently available Prologue.
Stay warm and have a great weekend, we'll see you in a week's time!