Hey there Servant of Darkness! I am _theRaven, solo developer of the game called "Apprentice of Darkness" and today I have some news to share with you!
First of all, I would like to announce that a demo is on it's way and I have also completed most of my checklist before the demo, get done with the core mechanics and the visuals that I need for the game, but I've also made some crucial decisions and changes to the game design. I am a solo developer who works in a full time job, so the progress is a bit slow, but we are getting there. Are you ready? Let's dive in!
1- Winning/Losing System
Maybe the most important thing I've cleared up my mind regarding to the game design is the "Winning/Losing" logic. To be honest, it was also the hardest one to deal with, because in a rogue-like game, even though you are investing into the game, the rewards and the setbacks are crucial regarding to the balance within the game.
To explain the winning/losing, I need to first remind you the core loop of the game; You choose your main hero (Warlock or Sorceress), you gather your War Group from the recruit pool and you went into quick paced battles. What we are trying to do eventually in the game is to conquer the continents by defeating all our enemies and sacrificing them to the dark powers, so we get "Darkness Points" and spend those for new powers or new recruits of darkness.
But how is the progress, or what happens when we lose a battle? First of all, progress in the game is kind of like a season based, for example every 5 battles, if you win, the season changes and with that change, we also get a new floor on our Tower of Darkness with 3 new upgrades/recruits to buy from by using the Darkness Points we gather by sacrificing our enemies. And this is valid for every 5 battles, for example, we start from the "Spring" season and when we win that 5 battle cycle, the season changes - tower of darkness gets a new floor - we have our opportunity to refresh our war group and this game loop continues until that continent is fully conquered. Note that, when you start your 5 battle cycle you can't go back and refresh your recruits unless you lose a battle. Oh and I almost forgot to mention, there is also a "Tier System" in the game, so every 5 lvls both the recruits (including the main heroes) and the enemies Tier increases and both sides get stronger. So basically, this is what we get by winning the battles.
And how about losing? Well, for losing we actually have a similar logic. If you lose 3 battles -doesn't have to be in a row you can lose randomly- we lose the upper floor of our Tower of Darkness, along with the upgrades we get from that floor and we also go 1 season back, so for example let's say you are in the "Autumn" season and you lost 3 times in that season, you lose your upper floor of ToD along with the upgrades of that floor and go back to the "Summer" season. Also the Tier decreases for 1 like it does with the Seasons. But let's say you lost in the first 5 battle cycle, what happens then? Or maybe you lost again and again and go back to the first 5 battle cycle? Well, long story short, you lose all the progress, lost all the Darkness Points you've gathered, so basically it's game over, but this is a bit unlikely situation if you'd ask me, because I know you are all worthy warriors of darkness, ain't you? Hehehe.
Okay I think that's all about the Winning/Losing system, if there are some things that I forgot I'll add them later.
2- Sacrifice Mini Games
Actually, you already know that there were some sacrifice scenes within the game, so what has changed with them? The thing is that, they are now not just scenes, they are actually mini-games that you will be able to play. Before I dive into the details of the games, I would like to clarify one thing; These games are not meant to be challenging or has a reward/setback system within them, they are purely for fun, just to have a break within the base game loop and have some fun that's all.
So the first one I'd like to talk about is the "Fuel Frenzy", and in this game our lovely Warlock and Sorceress decides to go on a camp, but the thing is, they use their captives as fuel to their campfire! Yeah that's right, that way, it would be two birds with one stone! Completing the sacrifice process and also fueling your campfire while playing some nice old fashion board-games, cooking marshmallows... Oh that sounds fun! And your job is to throw some wood to flare up the campfire, until the sacrifice is completed!
Second one is called "Beat to Bleed", and in this one, you are invited to one of the best club of the hell! "Club 666", ehehehe. The special thing with this club is that, you can also complete your sacrifice process by placing the captives beneath the ground, and as our "DJ Demon" plays his best beats, the hypocrisy of the world of light gets trampled beneath your feet, with all their lies and deceptions! To complete the sacrifice process, you gonna have to press the corresponding key on your keyboard, while the key is within the hit zone. So we'll be tasting your reflexes a bit in this one!
And the last one, "Obey the Screen", well in this one we have some messages to our crazy society from the depths of hell. In our consumerist society, even though it is quite obvious, almost 500 million people are suffering from some sort of anxiety or depression. But for some reason, no one is questioning the reason behind this problem. Well, you may find some answers to it in this scene. Press the corresponding keys before they disappear to fill the insanity meter, and cure your patient!
3- How About the Demo?
And what will be included in the demo?
Spring Season Map
Heroes and Recruits (Warlock, Sorceress, Imp, Demon, Hell Hound, Zombie, Ghost).
Enemies (Peasant, Archer, Fairy).
3 Sacrifice Mini Games (Beat to Bleed, Fuel Frenzy, Obey the Screen).
First 4 floor of the ToD and 9 upgrades coming with them.
Other core game mechanics such as, Progress & Tier system.
4- What is Next?
I am thinking about leaving the demo open for a long time to get consistent feedback and make the game better according to that, so there will be regular updates to the demo with also some new content. And in the meantime I will also keep working on the full game, and right now my plan is to release the full game with these contents;
Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter Season Maps
11 more recruits to unlock within the game by progress (Succubus, Arch-devil, Cerberus, Medusa, Ghoul, Draugr, Wight, Jhin, Wraith, Knight of the Night, Vlad the Impaler, Shadow Dragon, Red Dragon, Blue Dragon)
19 more enemies to face as you progress within the game (Militia, Thief, Priest, Elven Archer, Elven Warrior, Ent, Dryad, Ballista, Sword Master, Paladin, Blink, Blessed Virgin, Burning Man, Guardian of Light, Angel, Arch-Angel, Golem, Griffin)
15 more upgrades to unlock from the floors of the ToD.
Obstacles, intractable grounds, buffs or debuffs on the battle scene.
Hey, thanks for hanging out with me! So basically this the plan I have right now for the future of my game, and I hope you'll enjoy the demo, so you can't wait for the full game to be released! You know, that is the greatest motivation for a game developer, especially for someone who works a full-time job and in the meantime tries to follow his dreams. I haven't decided on the demo release date yet, but when I choose a date I will surely announce it, so if I got your attention, go ahead and give it a wishlist and you can also follow the game to be notified about the updates.
Alright, see you on the next one!