Hello, all! Here is this month's game development newsletter for the project:
Hermit Demo Launch & 7000 Wishlist Milestone
The Hermit Demo launched successfully on October 31st and is still taking part in the Ancient Costumes Game Festival on Steam (by Cube Game) until mid-month!
Today the game also reached a big milestone with 7000 wishlists on Steam! Thanks to everyone that has followed along for your support and feedback.
Inventory Management Improvements
As the inventory system plays a large role in gameplay, improvements are being worked on to make the experience smoother. This is a long-term QOL improvement project that will encompass many small changes over time. In recent patches this included:
New notifications the first time that containers are opened to show new players that items can be quick transferred using Ctrl+Click (this feature already existed, but many players were not aware of it because the keybinds were not clearly communicated)
New notifications the first time that items are clicked + dragged instructing players that items can be rotated (same issue as above)
Changes in development:
Deployable crafters will be able to craft directly from the Donkey’s saddlebags without the need to put items in your backpack
This will be possible whenever the Donkey is nearby, and will very likely be the next inventory improvement to ship
It will be possible to equip Bows, Melee weapons, and Torches all at once with re-bindable hotkeys to switch between them
This is in development but will take more time as it requires some redesign of the character sheet UI
Performance & Gameplay Improvements
The latest patches include lots of bug fixes, gameplay improvements, and performance optimizations for the Demo. While the demo launched successfully, I’m still working on shipping regular updates for it to improve the Demo experience over time. These QOL improvements are also being migrated to the main project, so they also reflect updates to the main game.
Some of latest highlights for Demo changes include:
Improved performance and lower VRAM usage for lower-end PCs; lowered the default settings for some graphics settings
Improved GPU performance by limiting Lumen reflection traces on landscape and foliage
Extended entries in the Logbook to provide more accessible information about gameplay mechanics right in the character menu; players can now find all gameplay-relevant information from the tutorial directly in their Logbook (hotkey 'L')
More & clearer notifications during the tutorial
New 2D UI elements for on-screen notifications / popups to replace the placeholder notifications that were there before
AI Behaviour, Combat 'Weight', and Reactivity
Several changes have been made to improve the look and feel of combat over the past several weeks. The overall goal was to continue to improve the 'weight' and reactivity of NPCs and weapons.
This includes
New AI flair animations and improvements to AI behaviour
Some NPCs now yell / taunt, make more noises in general, and have flair animations in between attacks; improves the feel of enemy NPCs
New / better VFX on weapon hits and blocks
New / better Sound FX on weapon hits and blocks
Gameplay Difficulty
As many players found the gameplay quite difficult when exiting the tutorial area, some changes have been made to help alleviate some of these issues right out of the gate. This should improve the gameplay experience for new Hermit players.
Lowered the number of bandits in the first encounter area from 4 to 2
Added a small camp to this roadside cart area so that these two bandits are separated and do not have to be fought 2-on-1 as the first encounter
More enemies have been added elsewhere, but the goal is to gradually increase difficulty as you progress further out (instead of beginning with more difficult fights right from the start)
If you enjoy the demo, consider leaving a Steam review (it helps the game gain traction so I can actually spend more time on programming and development and less time on marketing!).
Thank you all for your continued support of the project!