In this week's Dev Log, we talk about the newest Unholy Catacombs update, share some work-in-progress EV2 details and show off some more images of an upcoming magma level!
Daniel Haddad, Design Director (Blacksmith)
This week was one of those weeks where we had plenty to do but very little time to do it. The goal for the week was to get EV2 functional by Friday so that we can start playtesting her. This week was also our first mid-milestone release. I designed the Sword of Unholy Fire for the Squire with the hope that we’d finally have our first viable DPS Squire. We originally wanted to have the passive to vary the damage, range and angle of the flamethrower shield. Unfortunately our system didn’t support that and after working late one night to try and get it to work, we decided to just have it vary damage.
From there I transitioned back to working on the lovely EV2. Like I mentioned earlier, we got her functional this week and now we are playtesting and tweaking. I put a lot of time and effort into making some variations for her canisters. For example, if you are lucky you might find a Bow Canister that fires like the GIF at the top.
Or you might find a shotgun canister whose bullets explode after they reach their max travel distance into a wide area of damage:
I hear you like weapons that fire multiple projectiles in a spread! Well check this guy out below. He’s a rare Polearm Canister that should have your enemies PLOTTING their revenge!
(get it? Plotting? Because… it’s like a grid? Yea?)
Her Defenses and Heat mechanic are where we need to focus most of our attention going forward, but she is coming together nicely. Only a few more weeks of intense work and she should be ready for you all to play and enjoy!
While you are looking at all these cool gifs we’ve made for you, remember that her visuals are still subject to change and that involves everything from how her projectiles look to how she moves and animates.
Elliot Cannon, Creative Director
The Unholy Catacombs update is here!
This mini-release has tons of cool stuff and some new things we’ve never tried before. Usually we have a big backlog of items we bundle together into a single theme and a major patch release, but we currently have tons of long-term things in progress, (strategy revamp, Game Browser, more UI improvements, and new heroes to name just a few), so we thought it would be cooler to have a mid-milestone release with gameplay and new stuff for you to have fun with. Let us know if you like it!
If you've checked our Dev Logs over the last few months, you’ve probably spotted the Unholy Catacombs map, which is a reimagining of the classic Dungeon Defenders map, Foundries and Forges. Well, now it’s available for play with lots of variations.
- A regular tower defense map across ALL skill levels. So if you want a new map with a different layout, this is your stop!
- A new Spectral Knight Incursion for Nightmare I-IV. This is where coordinating with your friends becomes critical to win unless you have mad solo skillz. Steve intentionally made it hard for players who want a group challenge to tackle with their friends.
The Spectral Knight Incursion has two exclusive drops: the Squire’s Sword of Unholy Fire and the first iPWR 750 chest piece. We showed off the Sword of Unholy Fire in our last Dev Log. It has a pulsing taunt so if you’re tough enough, you can round up enemies and drag them somewhere else without having to use your Provoke ability. Once you have a nasty stack of baddies, turn and block, and a flaming skull appears on your shield and belches unholy fire on your enemies. It’s super fun and makes the Squire a riot. The damage scales off Ability Power and can drop up to iPWR 750.
I promised Steve not to give anything away about the map. Go play!
Brian Goodsell, President of Responsibilities (bgoodsell)
Working on Series EV2 VFX. Experimenting with bouncing sparks on her base attacks.
Built some cool visuals for the weapon canister for EV2 as well.
On the backend (where I do most of my best work), I've spent time updating our VFX libraries to use a newer base material system. This allows for more options when it comes to a particle's ability to drive and modify material properties. While redundant work, this really helps when it comes to being able to rapidly prototype VFX.
Also helped transition Series EV2 out of prototype phase. I hooked up all the backend archetypes and systems to see what we can do vs. what features are still needed that we do not have.
Finally,
Currently Listening To: "Boom Boom" - jennylee
Steven Collins, Lead Level Designer (Esorath)
Revamp underway! Working on feedback and making tweaks to really push the changes to be super impactful. There is some changes still to come that will make towers much more deadly to enemies of different genotypes.
Jesus Diaz, World Builder (N3oDoc)
We are almost done with the magma level thing! Still have to polish it up a bit though.
At this point if you are a true Etherian Defender, you should know what level it is. And because In.Session asked for it, here's another picture!
Daniel Diaz, World Builder (DanielKaMi)
Finishing up the world building phase on the magma map! We are pushing the lighting and polishing it up a little more.
In addition I would like to mention that this level will feature a cool secret on the last wave!
Jason Yu, Associate Producer (Urfyness)
There are a number of really cool things we’re working on outside of EV2 that I wanted to share.
- We’re bringing back the Dragolich as the May monthly quest reward. Now everyone will have an opportunity to earn one of the most sought after pets in the game.
- The Goblin Siege Tank enemy is starting to come together. Our goal is to have it ready for playtesting by the end of the week.
- The strategy revamp went out to the Remote Playtest Group, and we appreciate all of your feedback! Seriously, we spend hours digesting the feedback and discussing plans moving forward.
- I was able to see the first pass UI for the session browser the other day and even though it’s not fully functional yet, this is one of my most anticipated features. No release date yet, but it’s in the works!
Dani Moore, Remote QA Manager (Dani)
More testing, more planning for testing. Thanks to the folks that applied to RPG last week. We’re almost ready to let you guys in and test out the current state of the revamp. We’re currently changing a few processes here and there. Once we’re done with the initial (there will be more!) revamp testing, we’re be moving on to EV2!
Speaking of EV2, the RQA folks having been pouring over EV2’s new frame and testing out her expanded and deadly arsenal. She might need some work, some oil changes and some other spare parts, but she’s already decidedly deadly.