The Next Fest is nearing an end. I said I wouldn't tweak the demo during Next Fest... and then I tweaked it anyway. Here's what changed (also posted on Discord):
Tweaking:
NPC hit reactions are snappier
Hits carry more weight and are now weapon-dependent
Mage Stance now also regenerates mana
The cooldown on spell projectiles is removed
NPCs now have a reduced chance to dodge
Rewrote some of the tutorial cards to be more specific
Lowered spell prices so you can have more of them in your first run
The mana system got another update. It's now possible to "reload" your mana in Mage Stance. Your mana reloads automatically if you hit 0 mana or if you press the reload button in Mage Stance. In my opinion it feels better than the constant recharge, and it nerfs the flamethrower.
I'll most likely also tweak enemy spawning and add an indicator for when an enemy gets lost. Another thing I'll probably change is health regeneration. Currently you get some health after each wave. I'm testing how it feels if a sliced/finished enemy spawns health orbs instead.
I don't think I'm gonna rewrite the enemy AI for the demo, except all the bad reviews do mention the AI. I'd rather set aside two weeks for that topic so I can really immerse myself in it, since there are more problems there than I expected.
From now on I'll try to post weekly or biweekly updates. For the coming week, I plan to make the minor demo update and add a chili as a ranged enemy.
Hope you enjoyed the demo, and I'm grateful for any feedback.