Hey Hunters,
How have you been? On the month of November we at Rogue Snail have been hard at work on the Item System. It has been a lot of work (like, a LOT), but it's so rewarding! For many of us here, working on a loot-based game was a childhood dream - and it is finally coming true! We are SO close!
Hunter Screen (a.k.a. "The Inventory")
After months and literally dozens of iterations, we have finally settled on the (for now) final version of our Hunter Screen, where you will view your character's equipped items, and all the sweet loot you just dropped. Here it is:
Huzzah!
The Destiny UI influence is still very obvious, but I think we finally hit a point where it fits our game perfectly, and has its own flavor and identity. We wanted something sleek and cool that would work the same way regardless of your screen (4:3, Widescreen, Ultrawide) and input device (mouse+keyboard, gamepad, touchscreen), that showed all the important information at a glance with no sub-screens, and allowed you to view and equip items with a single click.
Item Slots
There are 6 Gear Slots on the left side, as well as 2 Weapon Slots (Primary and Seconday) and 2 Relic Slots (Relic Weapon and Relic Gear) on the right.
As we explained on update #51, each Hunter will have different Types of Gear that they can equip on each Slot. Here is the current list for each of the 4 Hunters on the Alpha:
Jimmy: Light Clothes, Heavy Shields, Gloves, Medal, Shoes, Potion
Pinkyy: Heavy Clothes, Armor, Gadget, Medal, Boots, Potion
Ace: Light Clothes, Light Shields, Gadget, Accessory, Shoes, Potion
Raff: Heavy Clothes, Light Shields, Sash, Accessory, Shoes, Potion
Even though there is overlap in some Slots, we want every single Hunter to have a unique combination of item Types that they can equip. You can re-use Gear between Hunters, but not the entire build!
You can K.O. a Ducan and get their nice shirts. It's a thing.
Backpack and the Vault
Those little squares on the side of the slots are your Backpack. Each Slot will have a capacity for 12 items. We know it is not much, but the Backpack is meant as a "quick access" for your most-used items, or recently-dropped ones.
At any time (or when your Backpack is full) you can send items to your Vault - that is your bigger, long-term storage. We still have to decide how big the Vault will be, and we will do so over time with the help of our Founders.
We understand that Vault space is a very contentious subject in looter games, so we are giving it serious thought and we have come up with some guidelines:
How will we decide on available Vault space?
a) Vault space costs real money to us. Increasing item carrying capacity means that server costs go up for every single player account. In every system in Relic Hunters we try to design things smartly, with low server costs in mind. Money saved in server costs means that we need to make less money to support the game, which means less need for aggressive monetization. By saving costs we can be more generous.
b) Begginers need less Vault space than veterans. When you are just starting out, having a lot of storage space is pretty much meaningless - a luxury at best. But later in the game, when you are trying to make a profit with Trade or chasing for that perfect roll, it can be vital. Also, in every free-to-play game, the majority of accounts are "noob" accounts that never get into the endgame. So we will surely implement a system that gives you VERY limited inventory space when you start out, but allows you to unlock (for free) more space as you progress in the game. It is a great way of saving costs for us, with no cost to our players.
c) Really big Vault space will have to be purchased with premium currency. At the end of the day, if you want to have a lot of space, you will have to invest premium currency. This does not mean you have to pay real money, though. We are very serious about making everything achievable for free, so you will be able to Trade for premium currency and get that Vault space you want, if you put in the time.
When is the next Steam build coming?
We are working extra hours these days to try and complete the next build for next Friday (30th). It is still a bit risky, so we might be delayed. We appreciate your patience, as we are doing the best we can.
The build will feature the new Hunter screen, complete with some pre-rolled items for you to play around with.
This build will NOT feature loot drops yet, though - that is the next milestone that we will work towards!
New tileset coming: Kami caverns!
Meanwhile, Mari has been working on the new environment that will be available on the Galyno Desert Region: The Kami caverns! These will feature many mushrooms, old Ducan equipment, and the mysterious ruins of an old city skyline. Take a peek:
Mushrooms bonanza!
Concept art for our new 3D tilesets!
Can't wait to fight some Kami in there, leaping from building to mushrooms!
The year is almost over, but we want to deliver cool things before Christmas, fingers crossed! 2019 will be the year of Relic Hunters!
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Cheers,
~Mark
Game Designer of Rogue Snail