Universal Demon's Rise (by Wave Light Games)

hmmm ... I don't think there's any code that would differentiate based on character type. I'll double check but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. When you say loot, do you mean the gold pickups? If so, the amount you pick up actually depends on your character level so a level 10 hero picking up gold will get more than a level 1 character. This is a lazy solution for me so that as you progress in the game, I didn't have to have 10 different types of gold to pick up.

Yeah, I think the straight line template effects are a bit limited because of the fact that it's a hex grid. I can't really think of any other way to do it. That being said, only a handful of abilities use the straight line template. The archers also have abilities that affect a circular area of effect and so on.

It's a good point that I should add some information on the template size. I'll give it some thought and see what the best approach would be. At a minimum, I can just go back and put it in the ability description.

Cool ... thanks for your feedback. Please keep it coming. Feedback is how the game (and future games using the same engine) get better. Let me know how you like the new wizard, he's one of my favourites.

 

THat's a bit odd .... there are wizard staffs that they can equip. Otherwise, they can generally equip anything the fighters can ... though items that boost AP and AP regeneration are more useful for them than armour.

I'll be adding quite a lot of new equipment in the next patch. I'll make a point to make sure there is more interesting stuff for the wizards.

 

Here's a pic of the update GUI. The "Next Hero" button now works much better and is more prominent. The ability buttons now display the description of the effect and other info on a single click and then you have to click another button to activate or cancel the ability. Some other improvements such as making the buttons look better with a glass reflection effect. Also, all buttons now have a more clearly audible "click" noise when pressed as the sound was either very low or missing from many of the buttons.

Screen Shot 2015-10-19 at 11.11.55 PM by Rajpreet Dhillon, on Flickr

 

Another minor UI update today ... now when you select an item that a character can use, their portrait is highlighted. So that way, when you select an item ... you know which of your heroes can use it and which can't.

Other than that, added sounds to the Ogre Mercenary. I think he is finished.

The remaining work on the next patch / DLC is:

- Creation of more patrol levels (approximately 4 or 5 more)
- Creation of portraits for the new enemies.
- Create a new tutorial / Game manual that is easier to read on a small screen.
- Create a bucket load of new magic items for players to find.
- Some more minor UI tweaks and minor bug fixes.

And, of course, a bucket load of testing. I need to get a play through of my party through to the end of quest 5 so I can confirm that the game will now continue on to the next quest rather than end, as it does currently.

 

I wouldn't think so ... but I need to check it to be sure. I'll find out the resolution and screen size details and then simulate that in my dev tools to check.

 

Built two new patrol levels today. Added a new enemy unit as well. This is the powerful Stone Gargoyle, which is a big bruiser enemy that can take a huge amount of punishment before falling. Here's a pic of these bad boys and the patrol level:

Screen Shot 2015-10-21 at 12.29.48 PM by Rajpreet Dhillon, on Flickr

Please ignore the fact that the player characters are Ratmen in this picture .. just doing some testing on my end. I kind of like the Ratmen player party. Perhaps I'll do that as a special level or hidden easter egg level.

 

Was thinking of that ... could do a fun game where you play as goblins or ratkin. I was doing Ratkin, I would emphasize stealth elements and make it perhaps a game where you sneak into human cities and camps to assassinate leaders, poison wells, steal artifacts, etc. A turn-based, stealth game using the Demon's Rise game mechanics.

 

Cool ... glad you're liking the updates. Gameplay and game balance feels good at the moment. Next update will update UI and have a lot of minor updates / bug fixes. Also, the new levels will introduce much tougher enemies and new gameplay elements with tiles / positions that give bonuses to stats to those occupying them.

Yep, this has been asked before. I'll do it for the next version as an option in the options menu. Do you want to switch off voices entirely or just reduce their frequency?

 

Working on improving the character stat sheet that details stats and all current effects in play. This was functional but not that polished before so just fine tuning it. There's now no longer a need to press and hold the effect buttons or ability buttons to bring up the tooltip that explains what the ability does. instead, you just click the button and it brings it up and there's a separate button to close it.

Effect icons are now better spaced. I'm going to make some changes now so that more than 8 of the active effects can be shown.

Screen Shot 2015-10-22 at 12.02.13 PM by Rajpreet Dhillon, on Flickr

Let me know if there's anything here on the stat sheet that you would like changed further. Also, the effects of panic and going berserk are now abilities / effects that show up on the stat sheet. This is more in line with other effects from skills and is just cleaner and more logical.

 

Yes, that one is on my list of minor fixes. It's in the shop screen and inventory screens. The unit stat summary on the inventory has a slightly different arrangement for unit 1 vs. the others.

 

A slider should be no problem. I'll put that in.

As an aside, I'm thinking of the next game and I have a couple of ideas. I'm thinking of working on the two games concurrently ... one will be set in the Demon's Rise universe and will basically be very similar to the current Demon's Rise game. Same GUI, similar enemies and so on ... just a new setting. The second will be the same core game engine but modified for a new type of battle. Here are my current top 3 ideas:

- Demon's Rise 2 - Path of Damnation: Players control a war band of warriors dedicated to the dark gods. Characters will all be of evil alignment and will feature classes like corrupted human warriors, warlocks, witches, goblins, ratmen, beastmen, undead and so on. Same core Demon's Rise game but with some tweaks to emphasize fighting in a demonic landscape saturated with magic. Also, as characters do battle, their actions grant them favour from the dark gods and this favour will be something the player aims to collect and use to get blessings. Failures and cowardice (panicking) would result in the loss of favour from a chosen god. Eventual goal would be to have one or more characters rise to the ranks of Demonhood and become an actual Demon lord. If anyone is familiar with the very old-school warhammer Realms of Chaos books (1st edition warhammer from 20 years ago), this is basically a video game version of that game.

- Star Commander (working title) - Core Demon's Rise mechanics but used for a fleet-on-fleet spaceship battle game. Players control a fleet of ships ranging from capital ships, cruisers, carriers, and so on and battle a campaign to conquer a solar system. Battles would be in space and ships can use gas clouds and asteroids for cover and other benefits and the player would accumulate "admiral / command" points to use to enhance his fleet. All ships destroyed would be permanently removed from the player's fleet and the game would be end permanently if the player's flag ship is destroyed. Essentially using permadeath to make the decision of which ships to commit to a particular battle and when to cut losses and jump out of the battle becomes critical. There would likely be a salvage element after the battle too.

- Kill Team Comand (working title) - Core Demon's Rise mechanics but used in a Space hulk-like sci-fi setting. Teams of humans / alien allies going through a derelict space craft that has been corrupted by Demonic entities. Mix of sci-fi and horror elements. Core Demon's Rise mechanics would be adjusted to make all actions (shoot, move, ability use) depend on action point total.

Let me know what you think. I think I'd like to work on 2 simultaneously. The fantasy version (option 1) would be the easiest as it requires the least rework and I could re-use even the current GUI. Therefore, I'm thinking of doing option 1 and then either option 2 or 3 as the next project scope.