Hello fellow Tiny Rogues!
In the light of transparency I wanted to give everybody a little update on how development of the game is going.
When I am not knocked out being sick for 2 weeks (boo, covid!) or taking care of fun things that come with founding your own game studio (hooray, taxes!) I am in fact still working on the game.
Progress it slow but steady, so here is a little overview of what happened since the last update in December 2022.
Polishing the code base and working on Quality of Life
I mostly have been working on cleaning up and polishing the code base of Tiny Rogues to prepare it for the massive update I have envisioned.
On the side I also work on small QoL things that I want to get done before I start adding new content.
An example would be that I finally got around fixing how HP bonuses on equipment items work!
Now it pretty much will work like armor. The health is stored on the item and not on your character anymore. Which means it will work more like everybody would assume it works.
I also worked on improving the health bar of the game. It now can show damage values between a full heart, 1/2 a heart or an empty heart.
I also added a new bar which informs you about the state of your revives and death defies.
It also can calculate when you are on "lethal" (when the next hit would kill you)!
I also finally fixed how weapons store their ammo state. Previously when you'd unequip a weapon you would have to reload it when you re-equip it. Now the state of ammo is stored on the weapon which makes a lot more sense and is more intuitive.
Currently I am also working on improving the save system of Tiny Rogues. I noticed a lot of players have problems with save states getting lost or getting corrupted.
The new save system will hopefully be more robust and also make backups of your saves so the chances are a lot lower to lose your save state.
It will also provide the functionality to have different save slots. (currently planned is that you'll be able to have 3 different slots)
It is a bit of a finicky task because I want to convert all your previous save states so as little data gets lost as possible. Obviously there isn't much to show, so no gif or screenshot for this work in progress feature.
Designing the future of Tiny Rogues
I've been doing a lot of design work for the game.
This includes thinking about balance changes I want to make. Like evaluating the current pool of traits in the game.
Or coming up with ideas for the 3rd rework of the curse system in the game...
But it also includes work like thinking about what new content I want to add in the 0.2.0 expansion. Coming up with lists of floors, themes, enemies, boss fights, mechanics, items and much more.
In the last update post I said I wasn't sure yet if I want to unlock both doors or only one of the doors at the end of the game. By now I have decided I will open 3 doors! Don't overhype it though, Mega Death is "just" moving a floor back to stand on the same level with the new end bosses coming in 0.2.0!
I currently think the expansion title will be: "Tiny Rogues: Between Heaven and Hell". (previously known as just: Tiny Rogues: Hellfire)
I am super hyped to start working on actual new content for the game and also to update the PTR (test realm) for the game again. Unfortunately everything has to wait a bit more as other tasks take a lot of time and also priority.
Preparing for new content
Graphics
I have had some help making sprites for future boss encounters in the game.
A freelancer named MrGranade has helped me out making some pixel art for the game.
The Walrus boss hints towards a new icy floor!
The Shambling Mound boss lurks deep within the new swamp floor!
Looking forward to facing this Giant Sewer Rat Boss? It seems like it's not particularly fond of the toxic environment it lives in.
The Dullahan is a new boss that will be added to the Catacombs. Joining both the Vampire and the Gargoyles as a floor 4 boss fight!
Music
Music production has also been going great. So far there are about 20 new tracks ready for new zones and new fights in the expansion. Miguel has been making some of my favorite chiptune tracks yet and I am absolutely in love with all the new themes.
Music Preview: High Heavens
Music Preview: Burning Hells
Release Date?
- I don't really want to comment on the release date of the update yet.
- Everything is very much up in the air and unexpected things like getting sick can delay development schedules a lot.
- Last time I said the update will take roughly 3 to 4 months.
- Considering it has been 2 months since that post, I'd say 4 months will not be enough.
- The earliest date for the update I can imagine is near the end of May 2023.
Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the development progress and development status.
Thanks for playing Tiny Rogues and I hope to soon make another post revealing more of the next update.
