Rogue: Genesia, July monthly Dev-Blog

Hello everyone, it's time for the monthly Dev-Blog!

Although it was originally planned for June, the timing pushed it to July

Hiring Composer and Sound Designer

Thanks to the previous month's post, I was able to find a great artist to help me!

This time, I'm looking for someone who can preferably handle both composing and sound design, but composing is the most urgent matter at the moment.

Here is a music piece made by one of the previous composers that can serve as a reference for the style we're aiming for:

The rate would be around $40 to $70 per minute of used music.

If you are interested and think you can fit the target style, please send an email to [email protected].

Start of beta 0.9

June marked the start of the development for the next major update.

Card drop rebalance

One of the main objectives of this beta is to test the major rebalance of card drops. This rebalance includes two main changes:

1. Adjusting the drop rate of cards based on the player's level, making high rarity cards less common early in the game but more common as the player progresses.
2. Locking more cards behind other cards or specific requirements to give players more control over their builds early on, reducing the reliance on RNG and providing more strategic choices.

These changes have been a bit controversial, and I have decided to wait for feedback from players during the beta to determine whether or not to keep them.
However, after running the beta for two weeks, I have received no feedback at all regarding these changes. While I am slightly frustrated by the lack of data, it could also be interpreted as the changes not having any noticeable impact on the difficulty, which is a positive outcome.
I am hopeful to receive more feedback about this aspect of the game during the remainder of the beta in order to make a more informed decision on whether or not to keep these changes.

Boss rework

Another big change to come with Update 0.9 is a big rework of the bosses.
From the feedback, the first boss was good, however the second one was a dip in enjoyment, and the third one was straight-up bad and confusing for most players.

Second boss was the first one that got designed and created, served as a boss for the end of demo.
It was hastily created in an evening.
Third boss was created by an helping hand during the 0.7. so I didn't directly worked on it, and it's a bit hard to modify the code of someone else.

So an entire week went into improving the bosses.

1. Bosses cutscene

   Now all bosses have a small (skipable) cutscene when they spawn.

2. Boss healthbar

   Bosses now have dedicated health bars, displaying the number of phases they are in and indicating if they are resistant to player damage.

3. Reworked Necromancer

   The third boss has been completely remade from scratch, separating it into multiple distinct phases and adding new/reworked spells. In the first phases, the boss will only use skill-shot type spells that are easy to read and dodge. This serves to teach players the boss's main attack. Once you've dealt enough damage to reduce the boss's health to 2/3, it will enter its first Inter-phase. The health bar will display a small blue shield to indicate that the boss cannot be attacked. A custom objective will appear in the top-left corner of the screen to help players understand what is happening. You will either have to survive for a set duration of time or activate a magic circle while the boss summons hordes of undead. After this inter-phase, the boss returns to the ground and gains the ability to summon undead as additional spells. The second inter-phase is similar to the first one, but more intense and slightly longer. In the third phase, the boss constantly summons undead around the player and gains a new powerful spell that players will need to dodge. Once you've finished the third phase, the boss enters a final Inter-phase, where it gains the ability to cast spells without having to stop moving. (For C-rank Difficulty, there is a small change to this last part)

4. Worm boss improvement

   The worm boss has also received a small improvement, making its abilities more interesting in higher difficulties. There may be further improvements based on feedback. In C-rank difficulty, the boss will summon spikes of rock that pursue the player. In C-rank difficulty, the boss will summon large quicksand areas to slow the player down. The Worm Spit ability has been reworked in D-rank+ difficulties to properly target the player and pose a serious threat. The boss's last phase involves repeated dashes that the player must avoid until its defeat.

Rework of stage generation

In order to continue adding new zones with unique and interesting gameplay, the stage generation system has been reworked. Players now have more control over the paths they can choose, and stage generation can be customized to create committed paths or prevent stages from spawning in certain locations. This update also allows for more visually interesting stages that blend better with the environment

(visuals are still WIP)

New Stats Menu

With the addition of more stats in the game, the current stats menu no longer suffices. Therefore, a complete rework of the stats menu has been implemented.
The new menu now displays as many stats as needed, including modded stats. Additionally, it provides a detailed breakdown of (almost) all the stats, allowing players to understand the effects of each card they have.

(the way the breakdown is displayed is also a work in progress, and further improvements will be implemented)

Improved Achievements

Achievements have undergone a significant refactor to eliminate hardcoded functionality. Custom achievements can now be created, listening to custom events.

There are also two major UI improvements for achievements:

• New Achievement Menu: This menu allows for the display of a larger number of achievements at once. However, the option to revert to the old achievement display is still available.
• New Achievement Unlock Animation: It was easy to miss achievements unlock before, now you won't miss them!

Gunslinger Monster Count

To address the disadvantage faced by the Gunslinger avatar in combat due to a similar number of monsters as other avatars, a new stat called "Monster Count" has been introduced.
For the Gunslinger, this stat is set to 25%, resulting in a reduction in the overall number of spawning monsters. This adjustment aims to preserve the uniqueness of the Gunslinger avatar without compromising its abilities.

Shop and Soul-shop Refactorization

The Shop and Soul-shop systems have undergone significant code overhaul to improve their functionality and flexibility.
Previously, buyable items in the shop were hardcoded into the shop class, leading to a bloated class and difficulty in adding new buyable items. With the refactorization, modders now have the ability to add new buyable items through modding.

Similarly, SoulShop upgrades were previously hardcoded into a few categories.
The refactorization introduces individual classes for each upgrade, allowing for more versatile upgrades and enhancing the overall functionality of the Soul-shop system.

Things Left to Do Before the 0.9 Update is Ready

The 0.9 beta has seen significant progress, with a focus on time-consuming tasks and slow progress. However, there are still several important tasks remaining to be completed before the update can be finalized.

Here is a summary of the remaining work:

1. Finalize Volcano Zone: - Create missing assets - Finish enemies in the Volcano Zone
2. Volcano Bossfight: - Devote considerable time to experimenting with and refining ideas for the bossfight
3. Complete Bestiary: - Add monster abilities list and pickups - Provide missing descriptions for many monsters
4. Polish Snow Zone and Add New Enemies: - Finish unfinished assets for the snow variant - Introduce new enemy variants for the Snow Zone
5. Avatar Skins: - Implement unlockable skins through difficult challenges
6. New Avatars: - Design and create two new avatars, one with a major unique mechanic and another with gameplay closer to the norm
7. New Events and New Card Type: - Increase build variety and depth with new event encounters - Improve Build diversity and depth
8. C-rank Survivors
9. C-rank Challenges
10. B-tier Soul-shop Upgrades: - Develop B-tier Soul-shop upgrades, to be added towards the end of the beta after ensuring content balance

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list, but it covers the major tasks that need to be addressed. As development progresses and player feedback is gathered during the beta, adjustments and refinements may be made.

Thank you for your continued support and patience as I work towards the 0.9 update.