Sup!
Originally, my plan was to take a bit of a break from DoH, to fix some issues with older projects up on itch. Then I got the idea for an overlay shader that didn't leave my brain for a week, and now we're here.
So, now there's this moving vignette on-screen while you're hallucinating. Had to tweak it a bunch so it doesn't interfere with gameplay and/or make you sick, but I think it adds a lot to the feeling of differentation between fantasy & reality.
As I was in a groove to play around with shaders, I added the first half of the engraving-quest you get after beating the final boss. Here's a lil sneak peek:
I've added these as milestones when beating bosses in hard mode, in addition to a series of strong machine part unlocks only accessible there. Those turn the challenge from an unbeatable onslaught into something actually pretty fun, since your build can now compete with the escalation of power during a run.
It's not a flashy update otherwise, mostly a bunch of tweaks for stability & understandability. A bugfix here, a tutorial there, another tooltip for that, a small change for this conversation, a bit of foreshadowing there... I guess there's always room to keep polishing.
Planning-wise, I've figured out a rough structure I can go with to finish up the game. The plan is to finish Act II (this part with hard mode & the engraving quest) till the end of this month (although it's shaping up to be a busy one, so no promises). Act III has been sketched out and will be capping off the story in a (hopefully) satisfying way, and it'll be done in some form till the end of the year. After that, I'll probably get busy with some other projects, if I can physically stop myself from working on this thing before I hit retirement age.
Also, for the three people that actually read the previous blog posts: Tower upgrades will come eventually. Probably. When I got time. And I feel like it. Don't put your life savings on it.
And for a last little tidbit, here's an easter egg that didn't make it in, cause it's against Steam guidelines to ask for reviews in-game:
What a shame.
Have a good one!
Jonas Wiesli
Team Quintuple-A
Patch Notes
Changes
Added engraving visions after reaching boss milestones in hard mode
Added 3 new achievements for those boss milestones with corresponding unlocks
Added noise overlay vignette shown during a run, rearranged the HUD & improved various transitions when ending runs
Added tutorial when looting & when placing a tile for the first time
Connected tiles are now highlighted when placing a new one
Various tweaks to dialogue:
5 new dialogue scenes
The Wizard & the Alchemist no longer start without those titles
In an important conversation, the Alchemist now mentions four engravings instead of three
Jungle Boss conversation edited down for clarity & reading flow
A late-game conversation was split in two due to being very very long
Removed dev-comment at the end of Act I (since the quest has started, kinda :) )
Added simplified controls view on main menu
Tile Timer now has a tooltip
Reroll button now has an icon
Added a certain someone to a certain boss arena
Fixes
Fix Arcana Orb sometimes crashing the game after being picked up two runs in a row
Fix Rod of Lightning sometimes crashing the game at the end of a run
Fixed certain HUD elements having an odd pop-in when looting
Fixed stats not adjusting immediately when levelling up an engravings' tier
Changed "Mage" to "The Wizard" in a couple of places for consistency
Fixed a line thought by the wizard being voiced by the alchemist
General code cleanup (removed alternate win conditions from the prototype)