Changes will Be applied On the weekend of June 10th
Greetings Everyone!
Wow it is June already and I have some pretty important announcements to make
First and foremost, this update has been the longest coming, a whopping 3.5 weeks. (Thats pretty slow for me) So what has been happening?
1) The Official Soundtrack has presented its own challenges -
Matt, the fellow Im working with is great but he and I are not yet to the sound I want for this game. and While the present music sounds good It is Royalty free stuff which i feel may or perhaps already does detract from the game's sense of Identity.
There have been people involved since before Matt, and ultimately they have not panned out. Guys I want to be clear that I am not being fussy - The first track of a game OST is always the most challenging to produce and I simply
did not have the capital to afford any kind of assistance until well, a week or so ago. I knew the crowd funds were secured by about Mid May and had them towards the end of May So I also want to be clear that I do appreciate the efforts of the prior musicians but their work methods did not and can not work with this project
To Clarify: Unfortunately each musician who did not work out has detracted from the game in his/her own way and Let me be clear that each of the 4 total musicians who did not work out failed to follow my basic instructions
Which was to remain in contact with me - Each of them would vanish for 2 weeks or more and then just email a completed track that does not fit the game, equally frustrating is that despite my giving them a key to play the game, the keys went un used. Not being in contact with me was the most frustrating part on my end - I supplied each musician with my Steam chat, Skype, and in some cases Facebook and phone number so that communication would be simple. and again - I asked to be updated every few days, not every few weeks.
I requested each musician to work on a drum/bass track first - produce a low quality, low instrument set of samples and update me every few days
what I got were completed songs, with high instrument counts and superb quality but were ultimately unfitting to Cycle of Tyrfing causing an otherwise good track to be rejected.
Each time this happens it would set the OST's development back by weeks and it would be frustrating for both myself and the musician who wrote the track
Again, matt has been great and I believe we can make a finished ost very soon) and I have high expectations for him, as his work ethic and drive have been match by none of the previous audio devs. I am a person who believes that hard work will trump talent and resources and so far Matt has worked very hard and Im happy to have him aboard.
Numerous updates and changes, as well as minor tweaks have made this the slowest update coming Many of the changes were aesthetic and I didn't feel right launching patches early for such relatively minor changes.
New abilities were added in the previous patch, namely a 'wall hike' mechanic that makes ascending easier and makes the over all game better. This wall hike ability has had some minor tweaks here and there since.
Additionally a new Jump ability has been added.
With the Item called "Jaded ascension' equipped, Hervor can do a 'screw attack' like leap and do damage to nearby enemies. This ability does not grant you immunity, but damages enemies as you leap upward.
Adjustments and changes have been added to the Item multipliers
The first run with these items merely effected the boomerang and banshee axe. These power ups now transfer to the war hammer Nomjlnar allow you to toss up to 3 hammers at once and allowing you to alter their direction.
These power ups also effect 'Odins' Horn - which is an orbiter type item that spins around the player. the max number of this item you can deploy at a given time is 3 - however with item multipliers you can max out at 9 now.
Additionally, you can alter the trajectory of the war hammer making each side arm unique in it's usability.
New enemies have been added, as well as new behaviours
Thanks to the input of everyone involved I believe i found the feel I'm trying to achieve here, and found the heart of what makes the game fun. For me, its "Momentum" . Moving at a given pace and cutting down enemies efficiently without the loss of pace.
New enemies can attack from behind, or drop in from above for an ambush!
Changes to Item drops from Enemies
Having a side arm is part of what makes Cycle of Tyrfing so enjoyable. Not having one feels somewhat crippling. This was originally by design as side arms used properly can make the game too easy. Challenge is important, but it is equally important that the player feel empowered
Side arms can now be picked up from slain enemies.
Shriek of the Bat This was advertised during green light but had been pulled up until now. this item still needs work and lots of balancing.
This item takes the place of a side arm, and with it you can transform into a swarm of bats at the cost of mana.
This ability adds a great deal of mobility, so the loss of combat strength seems to be a fair trade off.
Umbra Release
http://imgur.com/lZp9yAK
Im running into some issues with this one - uhoh!-
it's nothing to write home about but it should be acknowledged - This is a rare power up and it needs tweaking. Because of how the visual effect is processed, it sometimes leaves a 'ghost' which isn't good, it doesn't hurt the gameplay but looks strange and unprofessional - I am working on fixing this
Umbra release requires being crossing paths with the enemy you wish to target, you may target up to 3, and Press E (Right bumper) To activate it. It will unleash a shadow that pierces up to 3 targets doing heavy damage.
This also needs tweaking and balancing- if you encounter it, let me know.
Changes to Evney
Evney is a big bug. Originally he had a lunge attack which balanced his rather easily dodged energy blasts. The issue with the lunge was that it could at times be undodgable without the right items. This made him either too easy still, or a nightmare.
I took away the lunge because I rather the boss be easy and beatable than a completely frustrating experience.
To Balance Evney and make him more difficult I added an acidic drool so every now and again Evney will drool green goop you ought to avoid.
Red Jotun is more aggressive (axe wielder)
Originally, Red Jotuns were designed to be damage sponges, this had two negative effects, 1 this broke pace, and 2 it relied too heavily on split second timing to master defeating them. Reducing their HP was the right move, but the effect here was that even a newb could cut them down before they could get a swing in.
I tweaked how red jotun axe wielders behave. They swing their axes more frequently and in later levels give more warning.
New Visual assets
Most noticeable is Jotunheim's background, it has been replaced.
I want each realm to feel 'alien' and very different. Jotunheim for a while now had been using an altered variation of Helheims BG. This was temporary of course. JotunHeim's new background gives it more personality.
Blocky platforms that Helheim and jotunheim share are modified as well to have the same feel (that being stone) but to actually have differing
texture patterns.
Helheims being given a facelift to feel more swampy. Being the Realm of Death I decided to take liberties in how i personify it. and Death often equates to life and for me, I think of bogs and swamps with lots of moss and insects.
Which is sort of what I am going for, with mutated plants and enemies to have that feel.
Jotunheim is traditionally portrayed as a cold waste land and is home to Jotuns. I wish to retain this feel but make it seem like, again an alien world
I made new 'colums' and structures to decorate the areas, as well as some more animated background assets as well.
In addition to visual changes comes auditory.
I have partnered up with a good composer named Matt. (I haven't gotten confirmation if i can use his full name yet lol) and we are working together on giving Cycle Of Tyrfing it's own identity in the audio department.
The music being presently used is Royalty free stuff that I bought out of pocket from Envato. The music is great and my license permits commercial use, that said I want Cycle of Tyrfing to have its own identity.
Thank you to everyone who supported us on Kickstarter, thanks to you all I can afford to compensate my musician which is always nice and I can get the licenses I need to change how the game launches which should eliminate the install steps for Windows 7 Users
You guys have been Terrific and I really owe you all a sincere thank you!
Those of you who pledged at the early access tier will receive a free game key, and i will be in touch soon for the additional rewards.
Fafnir Boss
The Act 3 Boss of Jotunheim was going to be an exceptionally tall Frost giant called Prymr. After working rather hard on this boss, (redoing the design twice) I was unhappy and I did not feel it 'added' to the game really.
If something doesn't add, it almost certainly takes away. So I decided a different approach. Fafnir is a Exceptionally Large Dragon. With Thick Scarring on his Left arm which allows for climbing.
This boss is the first that Ive designed that you can platform up and effectively reach a 'weak point' His movements will also contribute to flinging you off if you are not quick enough.
This boss is substantially different from the 'humanoid' shaped bosses such as Raq, Hel and Stone Jotun. and I think his exceptional size will aid in making each Realm feel like its own entity.
a rough sprite of Fafnir to scale next to an approx of Hervor
Marketing efforts and the Launch Strategy
my attention has also been drawn to efforts in boosting awareness for the Cycle of Tyrfing This includes releasing promotional art, producing animated gifs of gameplay, talking with you tubers, prepping a release date, etc.
Most importantly, this game will remain in early access longer than planned - Why? Well the benefits are 2 fold -
For 1 this gives more time to me to prep for launch and clean things up, and for 2 - Well I have 3 words - Steam Summer Sale
The first few weeks after launch are the most important and if I launch during or immediately after the Summer sale id be sabotaging Cycle of Tyrfings success. Launching during the Summer sale forces me to lower the price to compete with…lets face it, BOMB sales that I cannot presently afford to compete with and immediately after the sale there will be an influx of released indie titles making it harder to gain shelf space
I know this marketing stuff is boring, but its important. It is more more likely an indie will fail because he or she failed to market and strategize and even if the game is critically acclaimed, failure to sell is failure to pay the bills lol.
So I will apologize for Delaying the full release I will also acknowledge that holding it in early access is a risk - since Early access doesn't necessarily get the same amount of exposure.
Super Spring Ninja - What is that?
First - I am a man who believes in being transparent.
So I want to preface this by telling the whole story.
My partner Natasha had been injured years ago - it was head trauma - She had since recovered, however she became susceptible to head trauma ever since. Rather recently she injured her head at the work place in a bit of a freak accident - she's ok, but is presently on Workers compensation.
thats a fairly sizeable loss on her pay check, which effects me of course.
It has been 2 months and she is still recovering but will be returning to work soon- We tried to make things work with less money, but it essentially
forced me to use the remainder of my savings.
I refuse to use the Kickstarter money until the things it was raised for are paid for. I plan to still be making games 10 years from now so misusing funds is not on my agenda.
I could have released Cycle Of Tyrfing earlier, but decided not to - after a year of effort, I don't feel like flushing it down the toilet.
This brings us to Super Spring Ninja - See I have a external drive full of experiments and half finished games. Super Spring Ninja being the closest to completion - I just got tired of working on it and walked away - so Im working Part time on Super Spring Ninja (30 hours) while working full-time on Cycle of Tyrfing (40 + hours) weekly.
I plan to launch Super Spring Ninja after the Cycle of Tyrfing
This was a strategy I had on contingency of something bad happening, something bad did happen and here we are.
I have to be clear - I am very pleased with progress, and very happy that so many people are able to enjoy the game
I do not wish that anyone interpret this as a complaint or any sort of excuse as I accept full responsibility for everything thus far It is my PR philosophy - to be transparent - and as a result it may seem as though things are tough, when really the aren't.
Good Game Devs are accustomed to challenge