Hello Lords and Ladies!
It's been just under a month since Lords of the Darkreign released into Early Access, and it's time to check in with our progress! Since the last devlog, We've created most of the first Manual Battle location, implemented a Lord and player controller, and even managed to bring a bit of magic to the game. We've also begun setting up Crowdfunding to boost future development, which you will also (hopefully) enjoy. Let's get Started!
Tower Fields - Quick Battle Arena
Green boi Returneth!
Tower Fields is the name of our first Manual Battle location, where Quick Battles will be arranged. The arena features a large valley separating the two camps, and a tower in the center as a landmark to guide the battle. The area is designed to be characteristic of most of the Karavi lands, with a wide degree of foliage giving way to ruins and scorched battlefields.
Yes, I am unnaturally excited that the trees move
The blocks on top of the tower are each exactly 1 Unity Unit cubed, which in-game is converted to a meter cubed. We are using this to scale each unit and item correctly, so that they adhere to the correct sizes given in the lore.
Our boi, being only 4 feet tall, has to have some hops to reach the third cube
Karavi Champion - The First Lord
Never Mess with a short man, they may conquer the world
As you can see in the preview above, Lords can turn, attack, and move in any dimension in the world, and bring the camera with them. You can also zoom the camera in-and-out, and rotate it to focus on a different part of the battlefield. There will also be a third-person-shooter esque camera, but it didn't make it into this devlog.
Controls are simple: movement keys move your lord relevant to whichever rotation you have your camera set to, while your mouse decides what your lord is looking at, independent of movement. Attacks and other actions will be directed at the targeted location, decided by where your mouse first intersects an entity or object in the game world.
Perhaps another demonstration is in order?
Yes, this means you can attack above and below you, even with the "2d" camera
As you've no doubt noticed by now, there is an odd tracer-like entity that appears before the Champion takes an action. These are Action Guides, and they are intended to help you understand the area your attacks/actions will effect, before going through with them. Holding down the relevant mouse button (M1 for primary action, M2 for secondary action) will display the relevant action guides every half-second. Action guides have identical characteristics to the "projectile" that their action uses, except any on-hit effects, like damage, or physical characteristics, like bouncing, are removed. Action Guides use a strict white-to-black gradient, to differentiate them from true attacks.
For example, the melee Action Guide displays the two maximum extents horizontally that the attack will hit, as well as the center-line of where you're aiming. When the mouse button is released, the gray melee hitbox is released, following the same rules as its respective action guides. Likewise, the Pyre-spear's action guide features a white-to-black trail that mimics its true projectile, and will follow the same path until collision. Since Lord actions will be balanced around cooldowns rather than resources, its important that the player can understand where their attack will be aimed before committing to it.
With Action Guides, you can take repeated, long-range shots with ease!
Hopefully, Action Guides will allow players to predict the results of their actions easily, whether in overhead or third person camera modes.
Crowdfunding - Bolstering the Treasury
As a small indie developer, I have to closely monitor my financials to make sure I can keep developing the game. While I am determined to continue work on Lords of the Darkreign, I may have to switch off full-time development by the end of the year to keep afloat. To perhaps prevent this, I have begun creating several crowdfunding campaigns, such as the following Kickstarter.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rev21/ciel-compendium-lords-of-the-darkreign-manual-battles
If you are interested, I would appreciate any support you could give, no matter how small. The game has struggled with visibility since launch, and even merely telling your friends would be a great boon to my ability to continue this work full-time. Thus, for those of you who wish to support me, whether through word of mouth or this crowdfunding, I thank you all in advance.
With that out of the way, I hope you've enjoyed this devlog, and are excited for the Manual Battle update. It will likely have to be released piecemeal, to keep the game fresh with consistent updates, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Thank you again for your time, and we'll see you beneath the Darkreign Storm!