First, let’s get past the bad news: this post doesn’t contain a trailer. I had hoped the trailer would be ready by mid-January, and I was going to wait to post an update until then, but it’s looking like a March trailer release is more realistic. So, we’re just going to have to wait this one out.
I will post a few screenshots from the trailer (by Flynn) and say this: the trailer is more than a teaser. It’s an actual music video that also showcases a good 1.5 minutes of gameplay alongside a ton of live-action cats! Check it out!
So, where are we now? Honestly, even with a four-week delay due to back-to-back viruses flowing through our house and the holiday chaos, I feel like we are in a very, very good place currently.
- Only the final boss remains to be drawn, animated, and designed. Many other bosses still need to be fully implemented, but their animations, art, and designs are all ready to roll.
- The first half of the game's unlocks and rewards are completed.
- We are currently rebalancing a bit of Zone 1 and should be rebalancing Zone 2 by the end of January.
- We’ve added the second wave of testers to the team, and things are picking up. Quite a few of them already have 50+ hours logged.
- I’ve started working on NPC writing and the game’s story, alongside the beginnings of the game’s many small cutscenes.
- Oops... we added 90 more items to the to-do list. When completed, this will push the item count over 800, far surpassing Isaac’s numbers.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. What are you guys doing? Why are you adding more content? I thought you locked things down! Calm the fuck down and let me explain!
As we’ve gone over before, Mewgenics has three major zones. Each zone has a starting core chapter that branches into two paths, leading to a final chapter. That’s five chapters per zone (15 chapters total).
Each chapter of the game not only has its own set of special events, enemies, levels, and bosses, but it also has an exclusive pool of four armor sets. Once we started sorting items into their correct chapter specific item pools, we realized that most of the head, neck, and face items we had were part of these chapter-specific sets, and there wasn't a lot leftover in the general pool, resulting in testers getting a lot of the same hats over and over... so we designed 90 new items to be added to the shared pool raising the games total item number well over 800! (That's more than The Binding of Isaac!)
It’s been over a year since I talked in-depth about armor sets, so let’s go over them real quick.
Each cat can (usually) hold five items. In order, that’s:
1. Weapon - A (usually) usable item that you can attack with or activate to gain a specific effect, possibly with a limited number of uses.
2. Head Armor - An item you place on your head with a huge range of passive effects. This can be part of a set.
3. Neck Armor - An item you place around your neck with a huge range of passive effects. This can be part of a set.
4. Face Armor - An item you place over your face with a huge range of passive effects. This can be part of a set.
5. Trinket/Consumable - A trinket with a passive or activated effect, or a consumable item with an activated effect and a limited number of uses.
If an item is part of a set, that means if you collect and equip three items from the same set, you’ll get that set’s bonus. Set bonuses are hidden, so you won’t know what they are until you actually acquire them all. These bonuses range from basic to totally game-changing, depending on your setup.
Here’s an example of an interesting set:
Miner’s Hat - +2 Shield (2 Shield HP that always replenishes after combat). Your physical attacks can’t miss. Set: Miner.
Miner’s Mask - Immunity to Poison. Set: Miner.
Miner’s Bag - Your basic attack has +1 knockback (moves what it hits 1 tile away) and +1 knockback damage (if a unit is knocked back into something, it takes knockback damage). Set: Miner.
Miner Set Bonus! - +3 Luck, 2 bonus random pickups are spawned when you start combat (coins, food, catnip, etc.).
You may be thinking, “Oh, well, with 800+ items, there’s no way I’m going to find a full set of armor in a run...” Well, that’s probably true on average, but the thing is, you don’t need to find a full set in a single run.
See, the way Mewgenics works is that when you go on an adventure, the items you collect come back with you—so long as your cats aren’t killed. There are shortcuts home after each boss in each chapter. So, if you find two set items and really don’t want to risk losing them, just send your cats back home once you finish the chapter and store your items for safekeeping.
Back at home, you have a storage box. When you start out, your box is tiny—it can only hold four items. But simply donating a few skilled cats to Butch will greatly expand your box!
Don’t thank him. We don’t need him having a bigger ego than he already does...
Your personal house storage not only lets you collect item sets but also helps you plan your runs better. Heading into the desert? Why not bring a few water bottles? Going into the sewers to fight hordes of catsharks? Better bring some glass shards or broken bottles to cut up your enemies and cause a feeding frenzy, turning all the shark cats against one another! Or maybe you’re just going for that ultra-hard run you’ve never finished and see an amazing combo with a new kitten’s abilities. Your ever-growing box is legendary!
I’ll leave you with a few more random items to get your brains moving. Can you find interesting ways for these items to work in your favor?
Vibrating Meteorite - +3 to all stats. At the end of each combat, get -1 to all stats. *Cursed* (this can’t be removed).
Glowing Coin (Trinket) - Activate: 50% chance to double your mana, 50% chance to lose all your mana. (These odds are affected by your Luck bonus.)
Cactus Necklace (Neck Armor) - +2 Thorns (physical damage you take from anything deals 2 damage back). Brittle (when this cat is downed, this breaks). When this breaks, this cat gains +1 Con permanently. Set: Cactus.
Girder (Weapon) - Melee attack that deals high damage + knockback. What it hits has chain knockback (knockback that moves through what it hits). As long as this weapon hasn’t been used this combat, you have Brace 1 (reduce all damage taken by 1; can’t be reduced to 0). 3 uses.
Cambion Conception (Trinket) - Summon a half-sized dark version of yourself. It has 66% of your stats and all your abilities. It becomes AI-controlled (might be evil). 2 uses.
Today, I spoiled 8 of 800+ items in Mewgenics. I also spoiled 1 of 60+ item sets, let that sink in!
Anyway, see you next month! Wishlist the game on Steam and spread the word!
-Edmund