It's been 2 years since the last announcement but the project is absolutely still going and is nearing a release candidate for Early Access. Roughly half the total planned content will be playable, about 4-6 hours of gameplay. Since then, there have been large changes to both the engine and the game itself, and a general refining of the turn-based combat system. Here's a summary of some of the additions.
Game Updates
New Combat Mechanics
Enemies "preparing" attacks can now be interrupted, while enemies "recovering" can be countered (assuming you don't miss the counter window!). Some enemies apply buffs that can be "broken", either simply removing them or completely turning the tables. "Menacing" attacks can be out-right blocked.
Yes, it's still turn-based stuff but, hey, I still think it feels real good to hit these.
All of these mechanics support the combat filler/finish combo system.
(See if you can spot one of the current known issues in this picture. 😅)
Story Updates
The story has been re-framed as a tale by a Storyteller. You'll return to her campsite in the present-day between story chapters as she relays to the story to a random Adventurer.
This change alone brought with it a large amount of new content.
Part of the new levels takes you to the "Barrel Dimension", including the "Barrel Control Room".
There is now a prologue, a series of levels called Darkworld.
New Game Feature: Codex
The game sports a Codex, with entries scattered all over the game. There will be codex entries about both the story of the past, Twin Gods story itself, and the present day, the historical city of Gorayne.
Minigames
In addition to new levels, there are now mini-games scattered throughout the game. This level, the Light Road, ends in a real-time combat boss called the Demon in the Dark.
This particular mini-game, the Darkworld Horde, serves as the end of the prologue.
Next Steps
The Twin Gods will be entering another private testing phase, this time even more limited than the last. Feel free to join us on Discord (https://discord.gg/fsYG45j2) and perhaps if you're interested, additional play test keys can be given out there. Once this ends and I'm satisfied there aren't any obvious game-breaking issues, it is then on to Early Access. 🫠
Who would have thought developing a game engine and a game to go with it would be so time-consuming? 🙃 But, I can see the end.
Fun tidbit: here's the output from my Lua API Doc tool, which reads the source file that contains every exported Lua function and creates a .lua file for use with a linter in VSCode.
Found 645 functions.
Wrote C:\\Stuff\\C++\\CHengine\\Source\\ChainED\\..\\..\\data\\base\\lua\\global\\api\\chain.lua
I remember when I thought 300 was a lot.
The Turtle God of Death awaits you.
