Hey, wonderful humans! It's time for another devlog.
After I've been swamped with fixing bugs in the first weeks, we're slowly entering a territory I'm feeling more at ease and I can slowly focus on more content. There have been some quite annoying game breakers, with the biggest headache being the enemy intelligence constantly getting stuck either in a loop or extreme executive dysfuncion (Bud, I understand you... been there! But you gotta END YOUR TURN, YEAH?)
Well, it seems I have resolved the majority of the intelligence issues (or maybe nobody is playing anymore after that fiasco which looks like no bugs, too... *cries*)
ANYHOW, I have slowly prepared new things to add and even snuck in a few.
Passive Tricks
These variants of Tricks cannot be paid for with dice, they either trigger by certain conditions or are an ongoing effect. Regeneration, as an example, heals the Animon for 1HP at the start of your turn while Risky is giving you a +2 damage buff when below 25% health. Currently, there are only Curiosity passives but I will add more soon.
Passives sort of take the role of equipment in other roguelites.
-Dicefolk screen shot from their official Steam page
In Dicefolk (absolutely love that game, check it out if you haven't yet!), each creature starts with two equipment slots. Equipment can be used to give them little buffs or change how they work, so you can exercise synergies. As I didn't want to add yet another type of run item or feature, and since Stickers are more for global perks for you or your party, I decided to make use of Tricks.
Passives can have powerful effects but you also sacrifice a slot that could be a more flexible, active action. Not to worry, though, they can always be replaced just like regular Tricks. Also, having effects trigger without having to do anything can be quite satisfying. Who knows, maybe you'll even come up with an passives-only build in the future?
Hidden Animons
These might be the closest to traditional evolutions. These Animons are created from other, regular, Animons and appear in the collection but cannot be encountered in the wilds. They can be unlocked by fulfilling secret conditions. These conditions are little puzzles and always have something to do with the Animon you try to turn into a secret version. At the moment, I have two of these mysterious fellas!
Here's a fictional example (wouldn't wanna give away the secret already, would I?): Pretend there's an Animon that's basically a deflated baloon (idk don't judge me!) and you take it to a Hammam and heal it and... woah, it turned into a water balloon Animon?! This is a made-up example but I kinda have to make this now, right...?
I always loved in Pokémon, when you had those fun requirements to evolve certain forms:
Secret Animons are inspired by this, giving you something to explore and solve when you have already beaten the content (or are a completionist in general). You can increase their affection the same way as regular Animons, which means they can be added as starters once you have journeyed with them enough times!
Secret Animons are also planned to introduce legendaries at some point but I'm getting ahead of myself!
Nuzlocke Mode
I've been asked about this a few times but I also wanted to add it anyway, the popular self-punishing Pokémon mode will soon take the punishing out of your hands so with the upcoming update, you will be able to start a run with or without the Nuzlocke Mode.
I even implemented the nickname feature just for that. (And because it's fun and cute to name your dangerous demon Snowball.)
Look at my Schmubert, guys:
Animated Animons, Animatons...?
Last week, I did a little animation test for Minjaluna just for fun and it actually turned out really nice. I played around with Godot's 2D skeleton system but ended up using regular manual 2D rigging because something was off with the easing. I really like the result and am now VERY tempted to add animations to all Animons.
That would put a lot of art overload on me and I'm not even close to have drawn all Soulblaze forms. On the other hand, it's easier to draw them with animation in mind BEFORE I draw them and not... after.
What do you think? Would you prefer getting new Animons and forms less frequently but they'll be animated or would you rather keep the simple style and I get to pump out more of these critters?
What's Next?
Good question. I definitely want to add a bunch of passive Tricks for all aspects. There's also a new Flavor I've been meaning to implement: Knockback. The Flavor will not do much by itself but other Tricks and effects will benefit from Knockback. For example, the status condition Chained currently prevents you from switching your Animons. That's nice and all, when you get hit as a player, you'll have to work around it but the enemy is rarely switching so it feels like a wasted effect. Tricks with Knockback, however, will deal double damage to chained Animons! Boom, you can do something with it! I plan to have other interactions with Knockback but first I need to implement it... yup!
Alright, I think this is the end of my absolutely structured and well planned devlog. Thanks for reading and until next time!
Happy catching!