Dev-log / Beta Patch 0.7 - Upgrades & Sub-Factions

Yoo hooo,

Was hoping to finish the patch before the end of this week, but sadly need a couple more days until it is done. But I thought I could combine the patch-notes with the state of the game “dev-log” at the same time. So if you only want patch notes, just scroll past the dev-log.

So, finally finished with overhauling loads of code for the game, so now the current lagging-issue should be finally fixed. It was a complex beast, and also added a “hard-coded” limit on the amount of enemies, so they won’t be able to become a swarm of enemies attacking you. The next patch will however not have a balanced game, as that takes a lot of time to get good, but I thought it can’t make the game any worse then its current state. But it will be pushed to the beta-branch first, as I’ve touched more than 50% of the game-code in this patch, so it can be game-breaking bugs I need to fix with this patch.

The Performance-Fix

But the “performance-fix” also comes with some nice changes, Factions and Sub-factions! So, now maps will not be “hardcoded” to be played the same way every time, I’ve added multiple systems to make it much easier to add variations, but I’ve not yet added so many “variables / variations”, but that is something that will now be much easier to add in upcoming patches. Which is something I’m going to focus on, as I think it will bring much replay-value to the game for the short time needed to add it. For an example, so will you face a sub-faction later in the maps. Which atm. Have different armies, but later will have even more differences, like a leader you have to face, using different tactics and, *drum-rolls* more factions of enemies AND allies!

So I got the code in place for supporting the game to allow players to choose which allied-faction to play with, and a throw with a dice, which faction(s) you will face on the map, these non-allied factions can be neutral, allied or hostile towards you AND towards other factions on the map. On top of that, so will the maps be more “fluid” vs “rigid”, so sometimes a place on the map can be deserted, other times the main base of a faction.

This actually took some time to get units to have abilities on top of their auto-attack, a resource (mana) and different ai-logic-patterns. But now it is finally implemented. So sorry for only adding a handful new enemies only, that aren’t super-special yet. But will at least give you an idea of my plan for the game.

Upgradable stuff

Finally possible to make your allies a force to be reckoned with, if you invest in them. So I’ve added a blacksmith building that houses upgrades for some of your units, and your Castle has upgrades to unlock more buildings, for example a Stable that will provide your allies with mounts (amount is seen at top-bar now, same as food & gold), to train your next footmen to become cavalry. Or a Mage Tower to train, well, mages.

I really liked the idea of the stables not just being another “unit-producing-machine”, but rather adding a new resource, mounts, to upgrade your army with better “equipment”. I’m also planning on a lot more upgrades, units & structures in the coming patches, and most of all, interesting upgrades, not just dull “+health or +damage” upgrades. And instead have upgrades/tech-trees that lock out other branches.

New GameMode

I’ve also added a new game-mode, which will be the default (non-hardcore mode) now, so you won’t lose the game upon dying, instead you will be revived at a shrine near the starting-area. As I was not fond of the idea of playing a >45 min long game, and dying of a simple mistake like, battery of the keyboard dying, cat turning off the monitor, you lost focus for 0.5 sec. But it's not insta, and the player will get a penalty in attributes for each death. So if you die too many times, you will have no strength left in the end to make a difference. I’m thinking of adding game-difficulties like Easy, Medium and Hard, to make these penalties removed, weak or harsh as well as a bonus meta-progression-xp, to even more tweak the game better for each player.

The long delay

What took so long time with this patch release since previous patch, is as mention in previous post, things in real life not always being kind to us, so I’ve lost a couple of months of work-time on game dev. But also a fix to the known high-performance of units-detection system (AI), but still wanted the game to support “large” armies fighting each other, which wasn’t a simple task (not Total-war size, but not a 10 vs 10 turn based strategy game either).

I’m also not planning on adding any new “systems” for a while, until I have filled existing ones with much more content in it, e.g. more equipment, upgrades, units, factions, maps. Which is far over due, maybe will continue with this over 1-2 years before adding new systems to be honest. As it now aaaaalmost have all the system for my 1.0 vision of the game (three more small ones i know of).

And as always, please let me know if you think something is unbalanced / should be changed. For example, ideas of what “arsenal” (units, structures, "tools") a specific faction or sub-faction should have, Is something I would need a lot of help with. Really hard to come up with fun, and hopefully, unique, ideas.

Patch 0.7

Game mechanics

• Changed so you don't lose the game upon dying, instead you are revived at a resurrection-shrine after a short delay.
• Added Sub-factions to enemies, so now enemies can have different origins, so they can have different units, tactics, structures.
• Added a Hard-limit on enemies, so they will no longer be able to fill the entire map of units (rebalancing is on its way as well, to allow the “frontline” not being an “ongoing battle” from start of the game until end, instead be two large armies colliding and much faster kill of each other.
• Reworked & Polished the AI, which will greatly increase the game’s performance
  • One part is updating the AI-tool I used, which sadly also made the units having a bit of weird behaviour sometimes (saw two footmen fall in love with an archer, and never left its side). Which is something I will look into with the upcoming balancing-patches in coming weeks.
  • The larger part was making the AI much smarter, mainly with how they check the vicinity for potential targets, but also as individuals.

• Changed so region 2 is now split into two separate regions (the two hills in the beginning of the map).
  
• You now auto claim all loot-chests on the map you haven't opened, when you are victorious.
  
• A new Upgrade-system which some buildings will use, like the castle in the beginning. To improve your allies' potential significantly.
  
• New buildings:
  • Blacksmith: upgrade your units
  • Mage Tower: train mages (casters with area-attacks)
  • Stables: adds new resource, Mounts! So if any are available, so will your footmen train to become cavalry.

• Hardcore Difficulty - As I mentioned above, so will the new “game-style” where you will respawn upon death, maybe not be a game-style for you, so I added this setting in the Map-lobby, to be able to play like the old version (you only have one life). But I’m not sure how big (if any?) xp-bonus should be rewarded for meta-progression when having it on, as it is more difficult, so might just remove it, maybe remove it and down the road add achievements only gained by playing in hardcore? Let me know what you think.
  

Quality of Life

• The food system will now also show Consumed / Produced above delta-food. To be more useful / explained.
• Added gameplay setting to disable the delay when you close a window in game.
• Added some red/green numbers on your stats, to easier see positive or negative values (top right when you open in-game menu or when picking a level-up)

Balancing

• Market sells excess food twice as fast now, felt too far away with only once per minute, so it is roughly twice as strong (Think this one will need plenty of tweaks in future patches, so let me know what you think).
• Most equipment are rebalanced, so "basic" items will no longer have negative values (e.g. the +hp regen ring, don't give -mana regen anymore).
• Equipment with negative attributes are special cases that will be known as "Cursed" (Corrupted, Unholy?), which later will have a much stronger positive effect, but with a negative effect as well (curse), which are meant to make them feel pretty weak at first glance, until you combine it with right "gear" (class, faction, abilities, other equipment), so the negative effect can be reduced or even negated completely.
  • This will make so there are “basic” equipment that are simple & plain “buffing” equipments, but I’m a bit in love with the idea of making equipments that have extreme penalty, which could be completely negated, e.g. lets say a equipment gives x2 damage buff, but stops your mana-regen / spells cost 10x more mana. Which don’t bother a playthrough if you have abilities that don’t cost mana.

Other

• Moved the "lover's tree" (units got stuck on a specific tree close to the starting area)
• Updated items & chest's visual effect and size, so they are easier to detect.

Bug fixes

• Your money shown in the build-GUI was resetted when closing the build-window.
• You were able to cast other abilities when using channelling-abilities, by just using the other ability twice.
• You were able to reopen the in-game-gui when you had returned to the main-menu.
• You weren't able to level up last picked ability.
• Some sounds were still playing even when muting the game in GameSettings.
• The game-over sound effect didn't always play.

Near Upcoming changes

• A new map - I have some really fun ideas for it, so they will be much more fun to replay (higher replay-value), and i will stick to hand-made, instead of a “generic”-made procedural generated map.
• Factions - both enemies AND allies are going to have new factions added to be faced / played with, to even further add different playstyles and more randomness in how each match will pan out.