Hello!
For June I've continued to work on the new location and content, while also getting some new Ai tweaks implemented. Some issues with Ai de-aggrovating and weird behavious at the edge of leash zones are very apparent in the current build, so I've been trying to fix these. I want the Ai to behave more technically predictable, and I've decided to simplify the enemy investigate and de-aggro behaviours to hopefully put more focus on the head-to-head combat. Unless there's a specific way I intend for the player to navigate a combat encounter, I want the player to fight them in as simple a situation as possible, so there's space for the secondary mechanics to be understood in the midst.
The first big change I've made is cutting the Armour system. I wanted to move away from the combersome number balancing setup you've seen thus far, as that's not what I want players to focus on any longer. The mechanic of increasing / decreasing the player's resistance stats still exists! but has moved to the Plinth menu, in a way that I wont be spoiling just yet.
In place of Armours is now the Charm system. A more expansive and interesting mechanic. The Charm system is again, a mechanic that I hope players will become used to swapping in, out and experimenting with, as each location or encounter may benefit from different Charm combinations.
My game design is pivotting away from numbers and stats, and more towards picking the right tools (weapons/magic) for a challenge. For example, there's a stricter penalty for using ineffective weapons against enemies, encouraging you to try something else. I saw a lot of people fail to notice that their weapon was doing a fraction of the damage they expected due to it being ineffective - hopefully this will make it more obvious.
Naturally, there's a whole new set of Items and consumables found in the next area, some with very unique abilities that may help unlock secrets in the previous levels... but I wont say too much here.
Things are going smoothly! I'm looking to finish the next location soon.
Thanks to everyone for playing, following and reading.
-Connor