Infinite Unreality

[Meiscool]

Just thought I'd say that I'm still working on this. Did some coding to make it to where thrown objects collide with enemies now. Also did some coding to allow enemies to be damaged by multiple things as once (meaning, throwing a bouncing dagger, and slashing them right as the dagger hits will result in two hits). Takes more time to do that than you'd think.

I will soon put out an update with item throwing and the corrected sprint system. The update after that will probably be an actual story/plot demo, but we'll see.

[daoman89]

Keep up the hard and good work homio!

[drenrin2120]

I'm excited for the next update. You still need suggestions for an earth-a-rang? It could have a slowing effect on enemies it hits and deal less damage or farther knockback, if you're incorporating any kind of knockback.

[Meiscool]

That could work. It is a good idea since I do have kb. I was thinking of having earth boomer petrify enemies, that way you have two methods of turning enemies into moveable blocks. More info below.

Just coded water element daggers. I think people will like these: Freezes enemy so that you can push them around while they are frozen. Screams block puzzles. I will probably make it to where they will thaw after awhile, but the idea of just leaving them frozen forever sounds ok too. It would make it kind of a strategy idea: Too many enemies for you to handle? Freeze one, get no exp from it, but not have to bother with fighting it.
Not all enemies will be freezable. Probably only small ones. I might make airborne enemies shatter when frozen... that is just an entertainment factor though.
Need an idea for a water-rang too. Maybe a drain effect... dunno.

[drenrin2120]

I like the petrify and frozen aspects. going along with abilities that create puzzles. how about charging enemies so to speak that can be used to power certain conduits or electrical machines. i know its not water but just an idea.

[Meiscool]

Inspired by dren's idea above, i'm opting to go away from the lame earth/fire/water/wind scheme and trading it for my own set of elements.

They are: Heat, Stasis, Static, and Force.

Heat: High power/damage. Fast projectiles. Projectiles explode. Faster sprint and possibly increased stamina regen for having it on.
Stasis: No damage, slow projectiles, freezes enemies. Required for some puzzles. Having it equipped as your element will result in more exp gained from kills.
Static: Low damage, charges enemies on hit. Charged enemies will take damage depending on the type of ground they are standing in, and can also activate some puzzle elements. Merely having static equipped as your element will prevent certain electrical attacks from damaging you, and possibly charge enemies depending on how they hit you.
Force: Normal damage, emphasis on kd and multiple hits. Daggers go through enemies and bounce off walls, etc. Having it equipped as your element will result in more damaging sword swings.

From above, you can see that some elements are all around 'better' than others, while the others provide situational bonuses that can't be overlooked. The idea is to provide elements early and allow the player to change between them at save spots. Save spots will be close to puzzle points, meaning back tracking will not much of a problem to change elements. IE: I won't penalize people for not carrying static/stasis the whole game.
Elements will not be switchable on the fly. I feel this will add more variety to the game. Boomerang/dagger mode will be switchable. Turning elements on and off will also be switchable. Using elemental abilities will drain stamina or mana... haven't decided if I want 2 bars or 3 at this time.

Other plans: Can't take damage (certain high AOE attacks will void this) while flipping/diving. This provides incentive to use the dodge command. A lot of stamina will be drained from flipping. As an incentive to use shift attacks while flipping, thrown weapons will cost nothing to use if used during a flip.

[Meiscool]

Just stating that I am still working on this.

All 3 enemies are now coded for and visible. They can be damaged, and I am working on numbers showing when enemies are damaged right now. ATM I have completed two sets of damage visuals (meaning you can hit something two times before the numbers disappear).
Thinking of making a max of 10 (That means, if it takes 2 seconds for a damage number to disappear, you can cause damage 10 times in those two seconds before it will stop being visualized via numbers).

I think that people will be hard pressed to hit enemies enough to use all 10 of them, but I'm doing ten just in case all the enemies on the screen are grouped up and multi-hit attacks are used.

Also, I coded a spinning slash. It is automatic on basic attacks. When using a sword slash, I send a search out for enemies around the hero. If there is more than one enemy around the hero and they aren't both directly in front of the hero, then a spinning slash will automatically be executed. The goal of this is to prevent the hero from getting boxed in and to knock-back enemies you are not focusing on.

I am also working on a HUD, though more than likely I will just be using an edit of relic walker's HUD (let's face it, it is awesome).

I decided to go with an upgrading system for the game. You will get 3 swords in the game, one dagger, one boomer. The thrown weapons can be upgraded to reduce stamina used, increase damage, and increase elemental damage. The swords can be upgraded to increase basic swing damage, increase charged drive damage, and lunge damage. Needless to say, each sword will be the "most powerful" of one category. People can pick and choose which sword they would rather use.
The last upgradable item will be boots. Boots will decrease the amount of stamina used to flip, used to sprint, and how quickly it is regenerated (depending on how the player chooses to upgrade them). I will probably have 2 or 3 different boots to choose from.

[Meiscool]

Another update: Damage system completely finished. All attacks now collide with all enemies. Max of 10 numbers of damage can be seen on the screen at once (I have achieved this about + many times, but only by using multi-hit daggers on 3 enemies in a straight line. I don't foresee that happening much in the actual game). If 9 numbers are on the screen at once, they start disappearing faster (to accommodate any new numbers that would appear).

Additional movement feature added: Climbing and swimming. While climbing/swimming, you cannot use abilities/weapons/etc. You cannot dash onto a climbable/swimable surface, only walk/sprint.

This basically means that all that is left for me to complete before the main gameplay system is entirely finished is:
-Stasis Boomer
-Force Boomer
-Static Dagger/Boomer
-HUD
-Menu
-Additional Damage Numbers (if I have enough picture spots left over).

Programming specific enemy attacks and such will depend on the enemy at hand, so I wouldn't consider them a 'core' part of the system (seeing as every area/map will have multiple different enemy patterns).
Experience systems and such will be made as the game is made (for balancing).

Please expect a tech demo relatively soon (like, a weekish, since I have midterms).

[daoman89]

I respect your hard work and dedication towards your project Meisdawg.  Keep up the good ****!

[Meiscool]

Demo release did not go as planned. Decided to have some friends try the game, and they each found a few bugs (through random button clicking mostly), and fixing them has taken a bit of time. One of them also suggested a bow item that you hold down shift for a length of time to decide how far back the bow is pulled, which I liked and felt I had to add.

Secondly, I tried the game on an old gateway laptop and it lagged horridly, so I made an anti-lag mode for the game. By pressing "9" you will turn off overlays and increase the wait time between enemies changing frames. This reduces lag to essentially nothing, while still keeping the game looking nice. "8" turns off anti-lag.

Added enemy AI in, as well as added a second enemy type called "Wet Man". He is a low HP, mild damaging monster that runs on the water that you swim in. Basically, gotta dodge him while you swim.

Big plans for bosses coming up. If you have any ideas for a cool boss, shout em out! I am completely open to puzzle-bosses (like zelda oriented).

Currently story boarding with friends as well for the plot. Has a decent direction so far.

That's about it. Peace out.

[Moosetroop11]

Everything you've said over the last few posts sounds great.  If I can open it, I look forward to it.

[Meiscool]

Thanks!

Not much to report, will still be updating this as updates come. I did make a 'formal' topic for when I have something more solid to release.
http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=28554.new#new
There is also a nice video demo of the stuffs in the game at the moment. Not all stuff is shown, but a good amount.