That's ok life always gets in the way and I know that you've worked hard on the game and want to get it out so I know you'll be trying. An endless mode to play after the story in a update sounds like a good idea. The story mode is sounding really good and you can never have too much of a good thing. Like with Castle Doombad I just wanted more!
I've finished the caravan this week, which was the last thing stopping me from balancing the game. So now I've got everything influencing the difficulty (enemies, bosses, status effects, currency flow, etc.) in the game and I will start balancing next week. Here's a little walkthrough for the caravan. The background and some assets are still placeholders. Merchant - Here you buy new equipment (weapons and armor) Trainer - Here you can upgrade your abilities, which will increase some of its properties (like the speed of your dog) Enchantress - The enchantress can - well - enchant your weapons and armor, so that they deal or prevent status effects with a certain propability Bank - Here you can deposit your jewels, so that you don't lose them should you die in a level Also don't forget that you can still sign up for the beta test of SwapQuest. Due to some personal matters it will be a bit later than I wanted it to be, but hopefully it will start at the end of September. You can sign up here.
Sorry for the lack of news, I've had some stuff to take care of in real life (they are still going on, but I have a bit more time on my hands now). This means that I'm about two weeks behind my schedule. The beta will start sometime in October, which screws my release plans, but it cannot be helped. The newest additions to the game are the intro, which turned out pretty nice, the class changing and part of the abilities (that's what I'm working on right now). Please excuse that I'm a bit reluctant to show the newest additions, as I want them to feel fresh when you play the game.
Today I finished implementing all the abilities. That took a lot longer than I thought it would, but I think it was worth the effort. To give you an idea, each character class has one specific skill in the beginning of the game and learns two of four additional skills throughout the game. This means every class has 5 different skills and there are 25 skills in total. The good thing is that each class finally feels different and it's fun to acquire new abilities. As every ability can be trained and made more powerful, character customization is quite complex. As a little preview I want to show you two of my favorite skills. They are part of the Trickster class and can be learned when the Trickster turns into the Mage. The first is the Fireball: The second is the Ice Lance: I hope you like them! Next up is the last part of the game, which includes a new cutscene and the ending sequence (and some surprises ). Have a great weekend, everyone!
Hey everyone, i've been working on completing everything for the beta and I'm almost finished. Yesterday I finally implemented a saving system, which was easier and more fun than it sounds. Here's how it looks. So if everything goes according to plan, the beta will start later this week or early next week. I'm already looking forward to your feedback! Have a great week, everyone!
I got my testflight invite but when I tried to load it I got a message saying that my device udid hasn't been included in provisioning. I'm not sure what the issue is, but I have a fifth gen iPod Touch if that helps. Thank you, I can't wait to try it out!
Yeah, that was my fault, I sent out the wrong link. The correct link was in the second mail, but as many people have since then been added to the team, I guess it's fine. I'm about to upload the beta test build now that includes all the test devices.
Running fine on my iPad Air iOS 8.0.2. Butting heads vs. the first mini-boss. Tough but surely doable still once I get my swapfu down.
The bosses all have their patterns and strategies, so you should pay close attention to what they are doing. I wish you good luck.
I've been playing another game pretty hardcore lately as I'm the leader of the top alliance on the game there but I'm going to make time for this, this weekend! Just downloaded it
@smt Thank you. I'm not entirely sure about the best release window. As christmas time approaches, it might be smarter to release it in January, especially for a small developer like me. Makes me kinda sad, but in the end I'll have to do what's best for the game and a rushed release could destroy what I've been working on for over a year. EDIT: Changed my response 'slightly' (entirely).
The beta is officially over and I've started implementing some of the excellent suggestions I got. Before I show you a few, here is a little Achievement Unlocked effect I've been working on. Okay, on to the beta. One complaint I often got over the course of the development is that you can't tell the character to turn around and go the other direction (you can only choose a path when you reach a fork). I was a little afraid, that this might make the player too powerful and that the game would become super easy. But now that I've played it for over 20 hours, I think the difficulty lies (and should lie) elsewhere and not in the controls. To get to the point, you can now change directions whenever you stop your character, as you can see below. Another thing that has been requested multiple times has been added: tapping instead of swiping to choose a direction. Now both works. The next changes all affect the world map. You can now play the level you have completed before again to get some extra jewels or level your character up some more, should the next level be too difficult. Also bosses now have their own separate level, you don't have to fight them right after you have finished the level, which should lower the difficulty considerably. Last, but not least there are now damage numbers when you fight. This might not seem necessary at first, but I think it's really nice to see how much damage you actually do, especially when you got a new weapon and want to see its effects. What do you think?
I like too see indications my character is getting stronger. I feel the number appearing during the attack ,is a good way to show this.
I'm sorry for the lack of updates, but I've been mostly fixing bugs, which is not that interesting to talk about. What might be interesting, though, is that I've also been working on a new game mode called Arcade Mode, where you play to beat the highscore. Everything will give you points, collecting jewels, opening chests, defeating enemies, completing quests, and you also get a multiplier depending on the stage you're in. To make the experience more seamless, there will be only one big level that transformes into the different layouts. So there won't be a world map, caravan or anything like that, just getting more and more points and leveling up your character. It will be pretty intense. I cannot show any new gifs, yet, as it's very rough right now, but expect something next week.
It's been a while, but I finally have something new to show. I've been working on the Arcade Mode of SwapQuest really hard and though it's not finished yet, I wanted to share a preview video with you so get an idea what it's about. Hope you like it and feedback is welcome as always. Click to view the video on Youtube
