Playtest is now open.
The playtest is now live so stop reading and go update/download/tell your friends to play with you. We will keep it up, probably until we re-release the demo this summer. But things may change.
Welcome back to another installment of mycorrespondance. It’s been a while since our last devblog, because we’ve been hard at work juicing the game feel and clamping down on our features. Dare I say the game is almost feature-complete. Our next run is to make as much content as we can before the game supposedly launches in early access later this year.
Damage Push, Knockdown, and In-Air Stagger
Something we’ve found awkward about previous iterations of the game is the lack of damage pushback from melee attacks. There’s something very satisfying about bonking an enemy off of a ledge and watching your loot plummet into the abyss.
We’ve added damage pushback to most attacks, and this can be amplified by our knockdown system. Generally, non-boss sized enemies can be knocked down when they are poise broken.
Additionally, the feeling of getting hit in the air was always kind of stiff and jank. We delight in the freedom of movement offered in our game, but also felt like the player had too much freedom and that spam jumping was always better than dodging.
Enter the in-air stagger system. It’s quite simple: if your poise meter breaks while in the air, you will be launched in the direction of the last hit and you will pancake when you hit the ground. This can happen to enemies as well. The launch distance scales based on damage and poise damage. We think this feature is really fun and we’re excited to see people play with it.
Perks and Abilities
This system has gone through multiple iterations and we have finally settled with an item-based approach for skills and abilities.
Some of you may remember that we once had a skill tree where you assigned points to the tree in order to unlock perks and abilities. This worked okay but it felt very generic and also kind of fiddly.
In January we were re-working this system and decided to try to implement xp based progression. (Where hitting an enemy with a mace would grant melee xp, and skill points were unlocked via hitting different levels). Ultimately this system didn’t pan out or play well, so we scrapped it in favor of a more item based approach.
Passive skills have been changed into ‘Item Perks’ which are applied to the player if they have the item equipped. Active abilities are now items that you slot into ability slots. These two systems are fused via the Fungal Mind, a body part that grants a number of ability slots and generally offers a build-defining perk.
Developing new perks and abilities is really easy within this system and we are excited to expand on it by building out different playstyles.
Items and Inventory Updates
We gave world items new, juicier effects, in order to emphasise the importance of loot to player progression.
The inventory and equipment screens have been redesigned. Now players are able to decompose items into a stable mold metal item, which can be further decomposed into the xp currency that can be spent on leveling up among other things.
We have also implemented a comparison tool, though we go back and forth on how much information this should give you.
Lastly we’ve re-added the backpack.
Updated Checkpoints: Relic Bloom
We’ve updated our checkpoints to be more bubbly. It’s pretty simple: walk into the bubble, save the game, reset the world, restore your hp and charges. Being in the bubble also allows you to edit your stats, change body parts around, and summon your friends to your location.
An issue with the souls-like formula that we are contending with is that the checkpoints were never meant to be used in multiplayer. In other souls-likes, the host must kick the clients and rest to reset the world. Our game differs from this because we don’t have to re-initiate the client summoning process, the clients are just permanently connected to the host’s world.
The question is, what happens when I am fighting something and my friend wants to reset the world?
Our solution to this is that now all players must be present at the checkpoint for it to save/reset/restore your hp and charges. Our goal is that this will keep groups of players together and focused.
An issue that cropped up early in testing this system was that there’d always be that one player who was just not on the same page, lost, or otherwise chomping at the bit to keep going. Because of this, we added a summoning mechanic where whoever is inside the relic bloom bubble can spawn a mushroom nearby every player which allows them to teleport to the summoning player’s location.
We feel that this mechanic both encourages exploration and allows players a quick way of regrouping and resetting. But we are curious about how it will be used and need feedback on the system.