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[Araph]

Updoot: The level editor now allows you to save and load maps, create objects, move, scale, and rotate said objects, and I'm currently improving the UI and adding more possible objects. Add a generic directional light and a flat terrain, finagle with the win conditions and character spawning scripts, and we've got ourselves a rudimentary level editor!

Also, there have been two new videos added to the dev blog, but they're nothing you wouldn't know already if you've played in one of the games or followed the thread.

Finally, I have a favor to ask of all of you. If you have Imgur accounts, I would seriously appreciate it if you would upvote this album. It's specially formulated to appeal to Imgurians: it has cats, memes, vidya games, a heartwarming story, and a twist as unexpected as the Spanish Inquisition (not really that unexpected). If I can get it to the Popular section of User Sub, it has a fightin' chance of making it to the frontpage. If it makes it to the front page, I win the internet. Or something. People will see it. I'm aware that this is a super-long-shot, but I'm still gonna try because why not.

[Araph]

Another update: the level editor is working. There's still some stuff to work out regarding distribution over the network, but that'll be done soon enough. I also added the game to IndieDB. That's not really relevant to anything right now, but it's a thing that is a thing. I'm hopefully going to be able to record a game sometime today or tomorrow with a few friends I know IRL who are unfamiliar with the current state of the game (fresh meat, basically) to put up on YouTube before releasing a public demo of the game.

I'm kinda at a loss as to how games get out there. I've read a bunch of recommendations by and for indie developers, but it's like trying to write on a river. Everything immediately vanishes into the past without leaving a mark. Nothing to do but keep trying, I guess.

Thanks for sticking with me through all this, you guys! You're awesome.

[flame99]

Can't really help you for getting onto anything major, but one possible method of getting the game out there is making threads on various forums and communities about it. Joining a forum just to advertise a game is kind of considered a bit scumming by some, but it's one possible method.

[Criptfeind]

I really hope this doesn't come off in the wrong way, but the game is really really rough right now. Like it's fun hanging out with a few guys and sorta going over it sometimes, but it's really not (the last time I played) in a state that I would call fun. I don't know how indie games get wider attention, and maybe now is the time in it's life cycle to start seeking it. However I don't think that it would actually be a good thing for a large amount of people to notice the game now. First impressions are pretty important, and although the game has a lot of promise, I don't think there's more then, honestly, a couple of minutes of play before the flaws become sorta overwhelming. At the very least, the ability to reliably actually play something like a game* seems like the first basic step you need. At least that's the basic level of foundation that I'd require to be impressed by the promise of any game.

*Fixing the monster being a ineffectual and more often then not nonexistent entity in the games would be my first step towards this.

Once again, I hope that doesn't come off wrong, since this is a cool project, and I'm glad you are enthusiastic about it. I would just hate the game to die because too many people see it before it's ready. Also to take what I say with quite a large grain of salt, because I have no real idea how these things work. Just that I wouldn't be interested about the game if I saw it just as is.

[Araph]

I really hope this doesn't come off in the wrong way, but the game is really really rough right now. Like it's fun hanging out with a few guys and sorta going over it sometimes, but it's really not (the last time I played) in a state that I would call fun. I don't know how indie games get wider attention, and maybe now is the time in it's life cycle to start seeking it. However I don't think that it would actually be a good thing for a large amount of people to notice the game now. First impressions are pretty important, and although the game has a lot of promise, I don't think there's more then, honestly, a couple of minutes of play before the flaws become sorta overwhelming. At the very least, the ability to reliably actually play something like a game* seems like the first basic step you need. At least that's the basic level of foundation that I'd require to be impressed by the promise of any game.

*Fixing the monster being a ineffectual and more often then not nonexistent entity in the games would be my first step towards this.

Once again, I hope that doesn't come off wrong, since this is a cool project, and I'm glad you are enthusiastic about it. I would just hate the game to die because too many people see it before it's ready. Also to take what I say with quite a large grain of salt, because I have no real idea how these things work. Just that I wouldn't be interested about the game if I saw it just as is.

...Yeah, you're probably right.

I just... I don't know. I've sunk so many hours into this and I'm running out of steam. There are huge swathes of the game that I know need improving and I'm trying to just take it bit by bit and actually finish it, but it's difficult to keep working on it. Now that I've left for college, I don't have my tablet any more. I can't make new models or textures or anything, which makes it pretty much impossible to add new models. I've been improving and fixing old code and adding in what I can (the level editor). The Wardens and monsters work properly over the internet again, the animations and attacks and stuff are fixed.

I don't know. I'm kinda rambling now.

[Fniff]

I'm sure some Bay12er could contribute a few models. I'm not a professional texturer myself, but I can try.

[flame99]

If you aren't terribly picky about the quality, I could toss together some placeholders in Blender. They almost certainly won't come out well, and should definitely not be used for any major release, but if you don't mind using interim models to further development while somebody more skilled than me makes some proper models, I could try to get something made.

[Araph]

I'm sure some Bay12er could contribute a few models. I'm not a professional texturer myself, but I can try.

If you aren't terribly picky about the quality, I could toss together some placeholders in Blender. They almost certainly won't come out well, and should definitely not be used for any major release, but if you don't mind using interim models to further development while somebody more skilled than me makes some proper models, I could try to get something made.

I appreciate the offers, guys! Last night I ran a couple games with the friends I mentioned in a previous post and it went better than I expected. After that, I'm feeling a little less hopeless about the game, but I think I'm going to go back and start overhauling Warden and monster abilities instead of bemoaning an inability to create new models. It's fun working on creative gameplay again after spending so long bugfixing and rewriting network code.

A couple things I noticed during gameplay:
-Monsters suck at locating hidden Wardens.
-Hiding is way more useful than placing wards.
-There's no incentive for Wardens to work together.

To fix the first problem, I'm going to give each monster a unique method of locating the Wardens. A few ideas we tossed around after playing were things like one monster being able to detect movement (scent trails, sort of) and another being able to detect Wardens who have been sitting still for a certain length of time, which would encourage the Wardens to actually pay attention to what form the demon currently is in. I'm also planning on adding a banshee-like monster who uses echolocation, which the Wardens will be able to hear and avoid if they're quick enough (as well as possible laying false trails with wards).

To combat the problem of teamwork (or rather the lack of teamwork) there'll be different classes of Warden filling a few basic roles of an adventuring party: a tank, a healer, a DPS, and a... bard, I guess? That's not quite accurate. A utility class, at any rate. The tank can create more powerful shields and wards, the healer can mitigate and repair sanity loss, and the DPS is a glass cannon. The utility class can lay more complex traps and track the demon in various ways. The demon will be getting a health meter: when it gets to zero, the demon goes into an incorporeal ghost form and has to make its way back to an altar to regenerate. While it's doing so, the Wardens can take advantage of it's weakness and track it back to an altar.

But first, double checking to make sure the level editor works correctly. I'd prefer to have that loose end tied up neatly before moving on to the next task.

[Fniff]

Two things that would be cool: more visual effects that the monster is near beyond a line of text, and a monster that impersonates wardens.

[Araph]

I kinda slacked off over Christmas break, but I've started working on Warden again. There's a fairly long dev video about all the stuff I worked on, but the gist of it is that Wardens now have classes.

Tanks draw aggro and keep the monster occupied as well as place shield wards, DPSes are long range glass cannons, Healers are not in-game yet, but they obviously heal their teammates, and Seers are a utility class that can use nightvision and place blind and slow wards as well as track where the monster has been. Only Seers can use nightvision, since otherwise all of the Wardens will continue to slink around with their lights off for the entirety of the game.

All of the demons forms now have a health meter and can be hurt. When a monster's health meter gets to 0, it turns into an incorporeal ghost and must return to an altar to regenerate, allowing your Seer to follow it to an altar while the demon is still weak.

[GentlemanRaptor]

Now this looks interesting. You planning a game soon?

[Araph]

I'm hoping to have one sometime soon, yeah. I'm redoing the UI now, and after that it should be pretty much playable again.

[Araph]

Alright, it's pretty much ready for testing again. The last of the major changes is that monsters can now cancel altars' timers if there aren't Wardens near the altar, meaning that Wardens now need to fend off the monster while waiting for the altar to be destroyed. The time limit for the altar will be reduced to compensate.

Would anybody here be willing to play at some point in the near future?

[flame99]

If the time allows for me to do so, I'd love to.

[Aseaheru]

Same here.