Weekly devlogs: Rogue Legend 2
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November 14 - Making Buffs Matter
Something that's always bothered me is how buffs and debuffs rarely seem to matter. They're almost always there, but they don't make a noticeable impact on your decision making in combat. A lot of times they don't even matter and are relegated to a single "buffing" class. So how do you make a system where buffing/debuffing matters and impacts your decision making?
Step number one is you make buffs and debuffs less annoying to deal with. The reason they tend not to matter is because most players want to ignore them or forget about them. Players do that because they're usually really obnoxious to deal with. A collection of icons on some corner of the UI that you have to hover over to check on, or read about in a menu somewhere, and are otherwise out of your peripheral. My system does this too, so I needed a way to involve them more in the combat UI. Thus the Target HUD is born:
This lets you see what effects are currently active on your target at all times, making it easier to both have and choose abilities that are dependent on certain buffs and debuffs.
The other problem is information overload. A lot of RPGs will just run wild with buffs and you can end up with a target that has 15 or more buffs and debuffs on them at a time. The more effects there generally are on a target, the less impactful and important each individual buff is, which again lowers the importance of buffs overall. It changes the buff system to that of spinning plates, where the only goal is to maintain uptime on as many as possible, rather than actually making choices about which are important. Also, it makes the buff situation impossible to decipher. Even with a dedicated HUD telling you the active effects, if you put 20 on there nobody is going to read it.
In order to solve the second problem, I limit you to 1 buff and 1 debuff each that you can have active on a target at a time. This has several effects: it clears up the target HUD such that you will only be dealing with 1-2 active effects most of the time, it places a greater importance on which buffs you choose to use, and makes the whole system simpler to understand while expanding tactical depth. Choosing between shielding yourself or increasing your attack becomes a more complicated decision when you can't just do both. Note that this is a per-player restriction, so if you have a Party Of Five then each player can have a buff and debuff on the target, meaning a potential max of 5 buffs and 5 debuffs on a target. I'm alright with this as I think group fights should probably be more complicated, but if it doesn't work out I'll change it. So, we'll see.
If you stalk me on facebooks you've probably seen this, but I've added a drill. I found building underground a bit obnoxious, so I added this to make it easier. It's currently freebuild only, but when used it quickly digs in a cone on front of you. Anything you dig out this way is destroyed, so if you're looking to collect blocks you'll still want to use the hammer.
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November 1 - Sick Frog Gifs
I got sick on Wednesday. I'm still sick today. Here's some sick frog gifs
totally sick frog gifs, bro
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October 10 - Creature Spotlight: Water Grek
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! I don't know how many other countries celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving, but we sure do here in Canada. No worries though, on Canadian Thanksgiving EVERYONE is Canadian! Unless you don't live in Canada, of course.
This week was a mix of multiplayer and combat. And this:
We've been building stuff on the freebuild server. Once combat is nicely finalized I'll be setting up a little pvp tournament, with prizes. This will serve as our stage, and a nice little showcase of what you can do with the new tileset. Even more tilesets are on their way!
Creature Spotlight: Water Grek
Originally believed to be the result of runaway adolescents falling into elemental plane portals, Greks are a permanent, persistent, and problematic fixture of the world. Fiercely territorial, racist, and dumb, Greks are simply best left alone, and can be scared off from most raids with a sufficient defense.
Water Greks make their homes on beaches and scuba dive for wreckage and scrap to build their homes in the shallow water. Water Grek homes are made out of a mix of rocks, clay, and rotting wood. They haven't developed gills like a lot of water elemental creatures, so they're forced to use snorkels or the rare scuba gear they can manage to steal from humans. Though not smart enough to upkeep them, even a broken rebreather is a badge of pride amongst their kind. They like to decorate themselves with different clam shells and barnacles, and can range from a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors, or a rotten mish-mash. A constant nuisance to fishermen, Water Greks will often try to poke holes in boats that they see as a threat to their shallow domain. Plus, it makes for more wreckage and scrap to plunder later.
Most of the patch notes
- GREK
- New smelter model and texture
- Changed inventories to be server-side only
- Fixed a bunch of multiplayer inventory issues
- Fixed some crafting issues in multiplayer
- Started on chest improvements
- Fixed some spawn issues in multiplayer
- Flowers now work properly in multiplayer
- Lots of combat tweaks. Dodging works a bit better and is clearer. Started on blocking and shields.
- Added dodging. Dash to the side with good timing to avoid attacks. Though, there's nothing to really test it on yet. Except maybe each other?
- Fixed bug where placeables would consume double
- Fixed bug where certain placeables wouldn't appear
- Rejiggered combat abilities to allow for toggles
- Jumping, attacking, and dodging now requires stamina
- Fixed bug where saplings would immediately grow
- Fixed server error with certain interactions
- Added minor feedback for exhaustion
- Redid a bunch of animations, they shouldn't get as frozen anymore
- Changed swing speed for attacks and changed animation speed to match
- Fine-tuned dodging a bit
- Fixed multiplayer issue where players would have difficulty attacking each other
- Temporarily changed dungeon brick to be a smelter recipe until new craft UI
- Time of day properly syncing in multiplayer
- Stopped windows from opening while chatting
- Tweaked multiplayer movement
- Fixed server error for player death
- Inventory items properly decay now in multiplayer
- Added failsafe error detection for inventory desync
- Items that depend on certain terrain (bushes, solar stills, etc) now properly sync when ruined
- Fixed error where newly joining clients couldn't properly target existing clients
- Eating and using stuff on yourself now properly syncs
- Fixed some errors relating to object interaction in multiplayer
- Fixed server-side issue where blocks weren't being used up when placed
- Other players are hidden when customizing character appearance
- Items now properly appear in other player's hands in multiplayer
- Prevented clients/servers from attempting to pause in multiplayer since it didn't work anyway
- Fixed issue where loose rocks would be destroyed
- Fixed issue where trees and bushes wouldn't sync properly when destroyed
- Fixed error for factories that don't emit light
- Fixed issue where certain items wouldn't get cleaned up properly when destroyed
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Shout outs: Stacey, mike richard, Brian Tanner, Serafina Moon, Thomas Spence, Armand Desharnais, Trev909, Bob Goode, TODD RICHARD, Iofire, Caitlin W., Damon Carrington, Mario Pizzamiglio, Phil Mehl, Wesley Muncy, elijah D. maben, R., bruschkin, Vincent Drone, thea musing, Brian Nunziato, Matt Yates, Elisa Martinez, Ryan Flagg, Jade Arrowood, Angelo Anderson, Syn21, Dave Walker, Jonathan Lekse, Katie White, JollyGamer, Tiernan Greenman, Burlyfighter, David R Abbott, Rick Marsh, Brittany DeNicholas, Amanda Kettles, Lou Bliss, Sik Makoyi, Pythor Sen, Bryson Waits, Desedent, Irate The Pirate, Mark L, Siren, AstroLass, Lizzie, Michael Hamilton, Vedie V, Mylon Schroder, Nathan, Jordan Florez, Robert Rich, Jess, Zee Livezey, Kevin, Kerry Melton, SallySparrow132, Millergendraft, Federica Frezza, Nick Soucy, Jeremiah Walker, Bryan Sheairs, chris wilson, Max Hops, Sarah Holland, Joshua David Maddox, Jennifer Smith, Packratt, Liz Fontain, Ray Bissonnette, Joe Dalby, Matt Price, Nicholas Zamora, ShortyMcgibble, Mr. Vinclair, mtnman1979@aol.com, KFB_Patreon, eric sun, Gundar Wez, Nahellion, That Video Editor Nic, bilbens baggo, Stuart, Brysen Packer, Maxwell Mayer, Thobek, XMrMonkyx ., Miss Zilla M, Jordan Brazeal, Kyle Clark, Jake Lane, Phillip P Torchia, Stefan Gottschalk's, Remora Jewel, Connor, jeremy baisch, Daniel Edwards, Zealot23, Shane Andrews, Brandon Mußiq, CJMAXP, Festus, Lisa Tucker, KingHavok1217, Mx Charlie, Justin Snyder, Zachary Burgess-Hicks, Steve Rosenlund, Ezzela1891, John Nazario, Gordon Alexander Fallon, zachary gee, Jason Clark
Their contribution stands as a beacon of hope for all adventurers!
